


Run Like Hell

by narly



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Erica Reyes, Claudia Stilinski Memories, Demons, F/M, Human Malia, Jackson Comes Back, M/M, Minor Melissa McCall/Sheriff Stilinski, Original Mythology, Resurrection, Serial Killer, The Alpha Pack, The Argent Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-20
Updated: 2017-02-25
Packaged: 2018-01-09 11:03:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 48
Words: 313,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1145207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/narly/pseuds/narly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set three weeks after the events of the 3A finale, Scott and the rest of the pack are faced with new friends, new foes, and all the challenges of high school. Read and enjoy our take on all the madness, romance, and supernatural excitement of Teen Wolf.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dead Woman Walking (3x13)

She opens her eyes suddenly. In her position she is laying down. She sees nothing. She tries to lift up her head and hits a hard, wooden surface. She moves her arms from her sides and touches a hard wall instantly.

It's then she realizes she's in a box. Her heart pounds as she begins to push on the sides and the top, hoping to get out. Nothing budges and she starts whimpering.

She pounds on the sides of the hard box. Her voice barely comes out of her throat as she begins to scream. Hot tears flood from her eyes.

After a few minutes, she gets tired and stops pounding. She lies still, crying. She lifts her hand to touch the wood. She has no idea how strong it is.

She breathes harder and realizes she might die if she doesn't get out. She could starve; she could run out of air, something could find her. She didn't even know where she was.

Her mind whirls as she tries to think of a way out. Suddenly, she starts moving from side to side, trying to move the box.

It doesn't budge. She tries and tries, but nothing happens. She cries even harder and punches the top of the box.

A cloud of dirt pours into the box all over her face. Her eyes widen as she realizes she is buried. But an idea hatches in her mind.

She musters up all her strength and punches the lid of the box again. More dirt files in. She punches again and again. Soon enough she is punching and crying, but she doesn't stop. Even when dirt starts filling the box, she keeps punching.

Eventually she makes a big enough hole to crawl out, but she's surrounded by dirt. She gets through the hole but her body screams for air. She reaches and pulls until her hand pushes through and she feels nothing. No dirt.

She begins to scramble to push and pull herself out. Digging and clawing to get out of the dirt.

Wood splinters pierce her body, but she doesn't notice. Her lungs beg for air and just when she thinks she can't go on she pushes the top of her head through. She can feel a cool breeze in her scalp and uses the last of her strength to pull herself all the way out of the hole.

She takes in gulps of air and slumps her body next to the hole where she was once buried and sobs. She cries until she can't cry anymore. She shakily pulls her body up, and notices the nearly full moon. With the little strength she has, she begins to walk away from the hole.

She doesn't know where she's going, but she just walks. Dirt falls from her as she slowly moves. With wet tears still on her face, she walks into the night.

_**TEEN WOLF** _

Allison lies in bed, tossing and turning. Her dreams are bad, she feels as though she's being suffocated yet all she sees is darkness. That's all her dreams have been since she, Scott, and Stiles had gone to The Other World to find their parents. She flips onto her side when suddenly she is shaken awake.

"Allison," her father says as her eyes flutter open, "Allison, wake up we need to go to the hospital immediately."

She quickly rubs her eyes and sits up in bed, "Why what's going on?" she asks, still groggy, "What's wrong?

"It's Gerard," he says flatly, a tone that matches his blank expression perfectly, turning away from his daughter to star down the hallway, "he's dead."

\-------

Scott sits in his bed with War and Peace sitting open to the same page it had been on twenty minutes ago. He sighs and checks the clock, 3:22 AM. He barely slept anymore. For the last three weeks all he got were a few hours of sleep at night, and whatever sleep he could get during class.

He turns back to try and read the page when he hears a crash. It wasn't loud, but his werewolf senses picked it up easily. He puts the book on his night stand and sits up, listening intently.

He hears absolutely nothing. He stays upright for a few minutes and after nothing else, he lays back and closes his eyes. They burn from lack of sleep.

He almost begins to nod off when Isaac, who sleeps on a bed on the other side of the room, begins to rustle and moan.

Scott opens his eyes and sighs. So much for that.

Isaac doesn't stop though, and soon enough he sits up quickly.

"Scott, something's wrong," he says, his eyes wide.

"Yeah it was just a little noise, I heard it too, but it's nothing. Go back to bed," Scott tells him.

"No, Scott. I feel something."

Scott opens his mouth to say something, but before he can Isaac is out of bed and heading for the door. Scott gets up and follows him all the way downstairs. Their instincts lead them to the back door of the house, which is located in the laundry room.

Scott leads the way quietly, and pauses just outside of the door leading into the laundry room, which is really nothing more than a washer, a dryer, and a basket or two of clothes. He reaches around the door and simultaneously turns on the light and jumps into the room with Isaac on his heels.

There, right before their eyes is a girl, sitting on the ground. The back door is wide open, and the chilly October air blows in. Both are ready to attack when the girl looks up and they recognize her face. Although she is covered in dirt and her hands are swollen and bloody, they would know her face anywhere.

"Erica?" Scott says.

The blonde begins to sob and shake and Isaac rushes to her side.

"Isaac, don't! She's supposed to be dead!" Scott whisper-yells, not wanting to wake his mom.

"Yeah, well how do you explain this, then?" he whispers back.

Scott slowly moves over to close the door as Isaac wraps the girl in his arms.

"Shhh," he whispers to her as she sobs. "I'm here, you're okay. Shhh."

"Isaac, this is weird. I'm calling Derek," Scott tells him.

Isaac doesn't answer him and continues to hold the girl.

Scott dials the number and listens to the ringing on the other end. He is about to hang up after a few rings, but at the last second, the other line picks up.

"Scott," Derek says on the other end, offering up no other words.

"Derek, there's something going on here," he says to the man.

"Spit it out, McCall," Derek says with a bit of annoyance in his voice.

"Erica's here. Well at least we think it's her."

On the other line, Derek exhales loudly, "It is."

"Wait, what? How? I thought she was dead?" Scott says, which causes Isaac to look up, curiosity lining his face.

"Yeah I thought so too. I don't know, Scott. But I can feel her. Just like I can feel Isaac and Jackson. Like I used to feel Boyd. It went away after the Alpha Pack… killed her. But I can feel it. And it's definitely her."

"This doesn't make any sense, I don't –"

Derek interrupts, "Look, neither do I. Just watch her. I'll be there tomorrow."

"So what, just let her sleep in my house?"

"Well, what else are we going to do, Scott? I don't know what this is, but all I know is she's alive. I gotta go. I'm going to do a few things here and then I'll be on my way. Be careful, Scott."

With that, Derek's line goes dead and Scott stands with his mouth open.

"What did he say?" Isaac asks.

"He says it's her. He says he can feel everyone he has turned, and he feels her again. I don't know how. But he's coming here tomorrow…" Scott trails off, obviously bewildered.

Isaac leans his head down and kisses Erica's head, even though it is covered in dirt.

"What happened, Erica?" he whispers.

For a moment, they don't think she'll answer, but in the faintest of voices she replies.

"I don't know."

\-------

The hospital is as big and as loud as Allison remembered it had been when her mother had taken her own life. It was horrifying how in the face of death everyone around her seemed to be working at the same pace – although, they hadn't suffered any major loss. She thought for a moment, then again she hadn't suffered any great loss either. Gerard may have been her grandfather by blood, but that was as far as the connection really went.

Through the small window she can see the body, covered with a plain white sheet. Although it almost looks like the blood seeping through the sheet is in a pattern.

"It looks like he did this to himself," says a short doctor with gray hair, "the marks on the body seem to tell us that he'd gotten a hold of some scissors and… well, I'll spare you the details. I'm very sorry for your loss."

Her father nods his head curtly and then turns his back on the doctor to stare at his daughter, sitting solemnly against the far wall. He approaches her hesitantly, not sure exactly what to say.

"Can we, uh, can we go?" the dark haired girl asks, staring up into her father's light blue eyes, "There's really nothing we can do here anyway, right? It's not important that we stay?"

Again, the man nods his head, "Yeah, let's get out of here."

Allison stands up and out of the blue wraps her arms around her father, "I'm sorry, daddy," she whispers.

He hugs her back, squeezing her tightly, "He made his bed," Chris whispers, "this was bound to happen someday."

"Are you going to call Uncle Ron?" she asks, as they head toward the elevator to leave.

"I did before we left, he said he should be here tomorrow by two with Camilla."

Allison nods her head in much the same way her father had, not saying anything anymore, simply staring at the shiny elevator doors, waiting to get out.

\-------

The phone rings loudly and as Stiles reaches for it he slips out of bed and lands on the floor – hard.

"I'm awake, I'm awake," he shouts at no one, realizing he's alone in his room before grabbing the blue phone off of the bedside table and the charger as to put it to his ear, "Scott, what the hell man? Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"It's Erica," Scott says intensely, "she's alive."

"Woah, woah, woah, Erica Reyes? The seizure-y girl who was turned and became super sexy hot? The dead werewolf? "

Scott sighs, "She's not very dead right now, Stiles. In fact she's sitting in front of me crying."

"How is she alive? I was pretty sure the Alpha Pack had made sure she was dead dead."

"How would I know?!" Scott exclaims into the phone.

"Dude, you're an Alpha now. Shouldn't you have some insight into all this crap?"

Stiles can almost hear Scott roll his eyes, "I'm still pretty clueless about all of this stuff, okay? All I know is that Erica is alive and that Derek, Isaac, and I can all one hundred percent feel that she's alive. Just get over here; we need all the help we can get."

The phone goes silent after that short instruction and begrudgingly, Stiles picks himself up off the floor and goes to grab a pair of jeans and a jacket. Nearly exiting the room before grabbing some tennis shoes to slip on, followed by the keys to his Jeep. He hurries down the stairs and to the kitchen, walking over to the fridge and to scribble a note for his father on the whiteboard, "The dead are alive," it says in Stiles' sloppy, circular handwriting, "Be back soon."

\-------

Aiden stares at Lydia who sits calmly on her bed, fiddling absent mindedly with her fishtail braid.

"So you're not upset," he asks, rubbing the back of his neck.

She shakes her head, "Why would I be? You and I weren't ever anything more than casual. Sure I saved your life, but that doesn't mean I want to be with you for the rest of eternity. You were a distraction – exactly what I needed."

"It's just, Deucalion is leaving and Ethan and I are both going with him. We have to, we're both part of the Alpha Pack, ya know?"

Lydia laughs and gets up from her spot on the bed, walking over to the boy in the leather jacket, "I'm not all that interested in the tiny details. Now, do you want one last roll in the hay before you leave or are you planning on just patting me on the back and saying 'Atta girl'?"

The corner of Aiden's mouth pulls into a smile as he begins to shed his jacket and shirt as Lydia slides out of her light pink nightgown.

"Atta girl," Aiden chuckles as Lydia smashes their mouths together.

\-------

 "What the hell is going on here, man," Stiles says to Scott. He is pacing the floor and running his hand through his already messy hair.

"I don't know. Nobody knows!"

The two are in Scott and Isaac's room while Isaac is in the bathroom, cleaning Erica up.

"When she got here, she was covered in dirt. Her hands looked like she had destroyed something. Do you think she got out of her grave?" Scott asks.

Stiles stops pacing, but doesn't answer.

In the bathroom, Isaac runs the showerhead over Erica's hair as she sits in the tub.

She is naked, but neither one cares. Right now, they were just happy to have each other again.

"I missed you, Erica," Isaac tells her softly, making sure not to get soap in her eyes.

Erica smiles gently, still shaken up. She hadn't spoken since she was downstairs.

Isaac turns away after handing her a washcloth and lets her wash her body.

After a little over a minute, Erica quietly says, "Isaac."

He turns back and sees she placed the dirty washcloth on the edge of the tub, signifying she was done.

"You ready to get out?" he asks her.

She nods in reply. He grabs a towel from the small closet and turns back to her.

"Do you want me to hand it to you, or do you need help?" he asks gently.

"Help," she says in a small voice.

Isaac, with the towel in hand, leans in and grabs her hand. When he does, he notices the nasty bruises and cuts. His heart sinks when he thinks of why she got the wounds.

He pulls her up and carefully wraps her in the large towel. With him still supporting her, she steps out of the tub. She nearly slips, still weak, and he holds her steady. In one swift movement, he lifts her into his arms and cradles her like a baby.

He looks down at her face before moving, checking to see if she was okay with him carrying her, because he knows the Erica he knew before wouldn't ever allow it. But when he looks down, she looks calm and sad. Even still a little scared. But in his arms she relaxes and cuddles up to his chest.

He carries her out of the bathroom and enters his and Scott's room. He makes his way to the bed and sits with Erica still cradled against him.

"Guys, could you give her some privacy?" Isaac asks.

The two nod and exit the room.

"Do you need my help anymore, Erica?" he asks. She nods ever so slightly.

He takes her off of his lap and gets up to grab one of his t-shirts and a pair of boxers.

He hands them over and once again turns around while she dresses. After a minute or two, he feels a hand on his back and he turns.

Erica removes her hand and scoots back on the bed. Isaac grabs a brush before he goes back to sit next to her.

He starts to hand her the brush but stops. Her hands look terribly painful.

He repositions himself behind her and begins to brush her hair. She tenses at first, but after a couple seconds she relaxes and leans back into him.

When he finishes, he puts his arms around her from behind and they sit like that for a few minutes.

"Erica," he whispers. "Did you have to break out from the box we buried you in?"

Erica nods. Suddenly, she moves out of his arms and turns around so she can face him.

"The last thing I remember is being captured. They… they did so many things to me I—"

"Shhh, shhh," Isaac says. "It's okay. I know. You're safe now, I promise. You're with your brother."

Erica nods as tears slowly run down her face.

"Let me see your hands," Isaac says.

She lifts them and lays them in his own. Not only are they swollen and red and purple, but he can see bits of wood in them.

"Why aren't you healing yet? I can still feel you like I did before, so you must still be a werewolf. But nothing is getting better…" Isaac tells her.

"Why am I alive?" she says quietly. "That's the real question."

Isaac doesn't say anything back.

After a few minutes, he stands up. He notices a bit of worry in her face and says, "Hey, I'll be right back. I'm just going to talk to Scott and Stiles, okay? Then we can go to bed. Do you want to sleep with me tonight?"

Erica relaxes and nods.

Isaac leaves the room and finds Scott and Stiles in the kitchen.

"Has she said anything?" Scott immediately asks.

"She doesn't know anything," Isaac shrugs. "The last thing she remembers is being tortured."

"So she just woke up?" Stiles asks.

"Yeah. She woke up in her grave and had to punch and dig her way out," Isaac says with sorrow in his voice. "I can't imagine what that must've been like."

The three are silent for a beat, thinking about the horrors she must've faced.

"And she isn't healing like a wolf does," Isaac adds. "Her hands are terrible and she has bruises and wounds everywhere. But they're staying there."

"So what, is she not like a werewolf anymore?" Stiles asks.

"No," Scott answers for Isaac. "Derek can feel her the same way he did when she was a wolf."

"And I can again too. I didn't know what it was before when she first got here, but now I do. I can feel my sister again," Isaac tells the two.

The boys ponder the predicament but come up with no answers.

Isaac turns to make his way back upstairs and says, "Erica's staying in my bed with me tonight. She needs to be with her pack. Or what's left of it anyways."

Scott nods and watches Isaac disappear into the house.

When Isaac gets back, Erica is resting above the covers on his bed.

"Erica," he calls softly.

She opens her eyes, fear apparent, but when she identifies Isaac she relaxes.

"Time for bed, okay?" he says. She nods once again.

She allows him to lift her up and place her under the blankets. He walks around to the other side of the bed and slides in next to her. She flips over to face him.

He faces her and smiles, "I'm glad you're back."

She doesn't answer, but instead snuggles up against his chest.

He breathes in her familiar scent and puts his arms around her. He kisses her forehead, glad to have his sister back.

The two fall asleep within minutes, finding a true calming in being with each other.

\-------

Lydia and Allison walk down the hallway side by side, Lydia carrying a large philosophy book with her, "So your uncle is coming to town," the red head says, "he isn't a psycho killer like your aunt was, is he?"

Allison shakes her head no, "He's much tamer than she is, at least that's how I remember him. I haven't seen or heard from my Uncle Ron in at least twelve years."

"And he's got a daughter," Lydia adds as they reach her locker. Lydia quickly puts in the combination – 12, 34, 22, - and looks back at her best friend after checking her lip-gloss in the tiny, pink framed mirror hanging on the door, "Is she a whack job? And is she a Hunter too or is that strictly your thing?"

"She was pretty regular the last time I saw her, but she was just a kid then and she's seventeen now. A lot can change in all those years. As for the Hunter business, I'm not sure. She's an Argent so I'd imagine she is. Although Ron may not have told her yet," the taller girl sighs, "but they'll be here sometime today. Guess I'll find out. Anyway, what's going on with Aiden and Ethan?"

"Oh that," Lydia drawls, "apparently the Wolf Twins are leaving with that one head Alpha. Aiden didn't really give me a lot of details… or maybe he did, I really wasn't all that interested. Just one more man to up and leave me."

"Are you sure they both left?" Allison questions.

Lydia nods her head, "That's what Aiden told me. Why?"

All the Argent girl does is point one slim finger. Lydia whips her strawberry blonde head around to see Ethan and Danny walking down the hallway holding hands. The shorter girl, without thinking, takes off to question the remaining twin.

"Hey Lydia," Danny says as he puts his combination in.

"What the hell, Ethan?" she asks sternly, completely ignoring Danny's greeting, "Your brother told me you were leaving."

Ethan nods his light brown head, "Yeah, he left. I chose to stay, our… uh… dad said we had a choice and I definitely had reason to stay," he says as he looks over at Danny. The dark haired boy looks down and blushes.

Lydia groans and turns on the heel of her boot, walking back to Allison who's waiting patiently at her locker, "That ass-hat chose to leave," she informs her, "I wasn't enough reason to stick around. What a load of crap."

"Um, excuse me," says an auburn haired boy from beside the two girls, "I kind of need to get to my locker."

Lydia's brows draw together, "Who are you?"

"Nolan Hayes, I just moved to town," he says nicely enough to instantly get on Lydia's good side.

Lydia stares into his blue-gray eyes for a moment before saying, "Hm. Nice to meet you, Lydia Martin and this is Allison Argent," she informs him pointing from herself to her friend. The boy smiles and halfheartedly says 'Hey' before opening his locker and grabbing a Chemistry book.

"See you around," he says before walking away.

"Here's hoping he's not some supernatural miscreant," Lydia says, evoking a giggle from Allison.

It's in that moment that everything seems to freeze. It's like she's being plunged into the icy water again, Allison can feel her eyes widen as she stares ahead to see Mr. Harris, her ex-chemistry teacher, walking down the hall – he smiles at her deviously before fading away. In a moment of confusion and panic, from the sinking feeling, Allison nearly collapses to the tiled floor of the hall.

"D-did you see that?" the brunette stutters grabbing on to Lydia's shoulder to help steady herself.

"See what?" Lydia asks, turning her head to look in the direction Allison was staring.

"I just saw Mr. Harris walking down the hall."

Lydia scoffs, "That's not possible, the Darach killed him. Remember? He was missing for a while and then the Sheriff's department found his body tied to a tree or whatever. Blood, decomposition, gore. There's no way you saw Harris."

Across the building, Scott and Stiles walk down the nearly empty hallway, on their way to Economics. Their talk had moved on from the upcoming Lacrosse game to Erica's return.

Stiles looked around before asking, "And you're sure she's not some devil possessed, Werewolf nut-job who's going to go crazy and try to slaughter all of Beacon Hills?"

Scott sighs, "I don't know that Stiles. All I know is that to Isaac and me she feels like Erica."

"Okay, but how do you know what she 'feels' like?"

"It's some werewolf thing, I don-" Scott trails off, looking ahead of him as he sees a man wearing glasses walking toward them. His mind fills with questions as Mr. Harris struts toward him and Stiles.

Stiles slaps Scott on the shoulder and spits out, "Do you see that?"

Scott doesn't move. He doesn't say anything. He just watches as the allegedly dead teacher continues to walk toward them, but evaporates before he touches either of them. The feeling the boys have then is something they hadn't felt since being in The Other World. It feels like they're sinking again – like they're being held under ice cold water.

It was like death.

"What the hell is this," Stiles asks, "Day of the Living Dead?"

\-------

Isaac sits on the couch with Erica, who is napping. When they awoke this morning, Erica's wounds were all healed and she was a lot calmer. But she was nowhere near her normal self.

Isaac decided not to go to school with the others to stay and take care of Erica. It was almost time for school to be let out, so he was expecting them home soon.

Scott's mom was cool with Erica staying, although she did need to sit down and fan herself after they told her she came back from the dead. But she understood that Erica wasn't fully herself, and needed help from the boys.

Isaac glances over at the resting girl and smiles. Unexpectedly, Isaac's phone starts vibrating and Derek's name appears on the screen.

"Hello?" he answers, trying not to awaken Erica, to no avail.

She rubs the sleep from her eyes and looks at Isaac, listening.

"Isaac, I'll be there in a few hours. How's Erica?" Derek asks.

"She's good. She just woke up from a nap, but she healed okay and ate a little."

"Ok. Well you guys have a spare key to the loft, so go there. I don't know how long I'm staying, but I want Erica to stay there with me."

Erica, overhearing what Derek said, gets a look of worry on her face. Her relationship with Derek wasn't exactly the best.

"Um, uh, can I stay there too?" Isaac asks, understanding why she was worried. "Scott's room is kind of cramped, and your loft would be… well… loftier."

"For now," Derek replies. "We need to get down to the bottom of this. So move your stuff into the loft and be there when I get here. Tell Scott to come too."

Derek doesn't say another word and hangs up.

"So we're staying with Derek?" Erica asks.

"I guess," Isaac replies. "That should be fun."

\-------

"Camilla and Ron are here Allison!" Chris yells.

Allison blows out a breath and leaves her room. When she gets to the foyer, she sees her cousin and uncle standing with suitcases surrounding them.

"Hey, Armpit," Camilla says when she notices Allison. She smiles and crosses the floor to give Allison a big hug.

Allison returns it with sincerity.

"You're still going to call me that? C'mon I was 5!" she laughs.

"Hey, it sticks," Camilla jokes. Allison takes in her cousin's appearance. She was curvy, with dark brown hair and brown eyes. She was basically a goddess with her naturally tanned skin.

"Allison, Camilla will be staying in your room until they find a place of their own, okay?" Chris tells his daughter.

"A place of their own? What?" she asks, confused.

"Didn't they tell you?" Camilla asks. "We're moving to Beacon Hills. Dad says that all the shit they've got going on here is too much excitement for one little town."

"Camilla watch your mouth!" Ron gasps. "And also because Gerard's death made me realize I wanted to be closer with my family, because you never know when something crazy might happen."

They all nod and stay silent until Chris speaks up, "Well how about some food? You guys hungry?"

"Starving!" Camilla exclaims, dragging her suitcase behind her.

"Okay, well you two go set up in Allison's room and we'll order a pizza or something. Camilla, you still just like cheese pizza?"

"Only cheese, please," she replies to her uncle with a smile.

The two girls make their way to Allison's bedroom and Camilla immediately flops down on the bed.

"You know, the real reason is because your dad told mine about all the things you guys have gone through here, and he thinks it will be a good way to complete my training," the pretty girl tells Allison.

"Wait, so you know everything that's happened?" Allison questions, shocked.

"Oh yeah. My dad tells me everything. Like you dating a wolf? That's gold," she says.

"Trust me, my life's not that great," Allison mutters. "I wouldn't wish it on anyone."

Camilla sighs, "I wish we had a choice, you know? Instead our whole lives are just decided for us."

Allison studies her cousin carefully, agreeing with her.

"You know, I haven't even killed one yet," Camilla says quietly, picking at her nails. "And honestly? I don't want to. I don't want this life. But moving here is just going to ensure it all."

"You wanna get out, huh?" Allison asks.

"I do. Don't you?"

Allison shrugs, "I want to. But I can't. Not now anyways."

Camilla sighs, "So are you still friends with the werewolves? How does that even work?"

"It's complicated, to say the least," Allison tells her cousin.

\-------

Isaac and Erica sit on the couch in Derek's loft. Scott stands while Stiles sits on the armrest next to Erica.

The four sit in silence, waiting for Derek to arrive.

"You know, I'm surprised you haven't asked about Boyd," Isaac says to Erica.

The blonde shrugs, "Well he hasn't been around and I don't feel him anymore, so I just assumed the worst…"

Isaac grimaces and reaches over to hold her hand.

All of a sudden, the door opens and Derek is there. Holding a duffel bag. Stiles and Isaac stand up. Erica begins to, but Derek says, "Don't. You're weak. It's okay."

Erica doesn't know what to say, so she keeps her mouth shut. Derek continues to stare at her and slowly makes his way towards her.

Isaac sits back down and keeps his eyes on Derek.

"Uh, hey Derek," Stiles says.

Derek doesn't even look at the boy, but continues moving closer.

"Okay," Stiles says in response to being ignored.

Derek stops a few feet in front of the couch and drops his bag.

"It's really you," he says, not taking his eyes off of her.

"It's me," she says.

Erica's heart beats fast, but she's not scared. She can see no cruelty in Derek's eyes. No matter what she did in the past, he wasn't angry.

Unafraid, she stands up slowly to face her once alpha.

"Are you okay?" he asks with true sincerity.

She nods and before she knows it Derek has her wrapped in his embrace.

Nobody expects it and Isaac stands up again, at first afraid he is going to hurt her. But when they all realize his true actions, they relax a little.

It takes Erica a moment to hug the man back. She is shocked at his actions, but his touch surprisingly soothes her and she closes her eyes.

"I thought you were gone," Derek whispers in her ear.

"I'm here now," she replies.

\-------

A/N: Welcome! Thanks for reading. This isn't cannon with the show. Although elements from the show may be taken. Characters of our own creation were used in this fic and to help you visualize them we have some actors chosen to portray them. Camilla: Sofia Black D'Elia, Ron: Titus Welliver, and Nolan: Logan Lerman. Please comment, kudos, and bookmark if you enjoyed reading! Thanks again!


	2. Insomniac (3x14)

“Erica!” Derek calls out into the open night. Trailing beside him, Isaac calls out the blonde’s name too.

The two had been trailing her scent for nearly a half hour, to no avail. 

They traipse through the woods, still seeing no signs of the girl being there. Only their keen senses tell them she had. 

Before they know it, they come upon a clearing where Erica stands still, her back to them. 

Isaac rushes forward and grabs a hold of her, afraid she might get away again. 

“Erica, what are you doing out here? It’s freezing!” Isaac exclaims. He takes his jacket off and places it around her cold shoulders. All she’s wearing is a t-shirt and a pair of Isaac’s boxers; they still hadn’t gone out to get her clothes. Despite them being wolves, it was still pretty chilly.

Derek comes up closer to the two and looks into her eyes. She seems to look back, but there is a blankness in her gaze. 

“Erica,” he says softly. She doesn’t reply. Just doesn’t even register him being directly in front of her. He grabs her shoulders and shakes her gently, “Hey. Erica. C’mon, we need to get back to the loft.”

The girl still doesn’t say a word and doesn’t react to his touch. He sighs and lets go. 

“Thank God I got back in town today,” Derek says. “Something is definitely not right.”

Isaac nods and says, “So what are we going to do? She’s in some sort of trance, how can we get her back to the loft?”

Without answering, Derek scoops up the girl and begins to walk back the way he and Isaac came. 

“I guess that’s one way,” Isaac says quietly before jogging to catch up. 

A few minutes into walking Erica blinks hard and looks up at Derek, confused. 

“What is going on? Where are we? Why are you carrying me?”

Derek stops walking and looks at the girl in his arms. 

“We should be asking you that,” he tells her. When she shows no signs of knowing what he means he adds, “Isaac woke up in the middle of the night to find you gone. We followed your scent and found you here, half-naked.”

“I’m wearing boxers and a shirt,” Erica huffs. “And apparently Isaac’s jacket.”

With no words, Derek places Erica on her feet.  He doesn’t let go of one of her arms, though, and says, “Can I trust you to walk back to the car with us?”

“Yes, I’m not a baby,” Erica says, ripping her arm away. 

“Well, you’d think you’d understand my worry, due to the fact that you haven’t been yourself since you dug yourself from your grave,” Derek nearly shouts. 

Pain crosses Erica’s face as she remembers, but just as quickly as it comes, it leaves, and she says, “Well, I feel fine now. Maybe I just needed some rest and fresh air. Can we just go now?”

Derek shakes his head and begins to walk. Isaac catches up with him, leaving Erica to trail along. 

“Stay by her, please,” Derek says in an annoyed tone. 

“I will, I just wanted to ask you what the hell is happening. She seems totally fine now, when just a few hours ago she was quiet and scared. I don’t get any of this.”

“Neither do I. Let’s not forget the fact that she also happened to come back from the dead. Nothing makes sense right now, we just need to watch her.”

Isaac agrees and slows down to walk with Erica. 

“I could hear you guys, you know,” she says to him. 

Isaac looks over at her and grimaces. He moves closer and puts his arm around her. 

“I know. We’re just confused. I know it’s not easy for you either.”

She nods and rests her head on his shoulder, “I just want to know how I came back. And why.”

“Me too,” he replies. 

“Speed it up,” Derek says. 

Erica rolls her eyes but the two don’t speed up their pace. 

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Stiles opens his eyes to find himself facing a lake. He can see the moon behind dark clouds. He looks around and has no idea where he is. 

He stands still, not sure what to do. He has no idea how he got here. 

Before him, the once still lake begins to move. Stiles starts to back away, keeping his eyes glued to the moving surface. Somewhere near the middle of the body of water, something pokes out. It moves from the center to the edge. As it gets closer, more of it begins to show, due to the water getting shallower. 

Soon enough, Stiles can tell it’s a person. A woman. She slowly makes her way through the water, more than half of her body is showing now. Stiles keeps backing away. 

The woman keeps moving towards him and soon enough she is out of the water. She stops walking for a few seconds, and Stiles can see the lake water dripping from her.

She begins to walk towards him, and he turns to run. When he turns around, she is there, right before him. 

His eyes go wide as he recognizes her. His mother. And it is not water that is dripping from her, but blood. 

He stops moving, his heart pounding way too fast. His mother smiles and reaches out to touch his face. Frozen with fear he lets her. 

She moves her other hand to grab one of his own, and she begins walking with him, back to the lake. 

His fear stopped his reactions for a moment, but he starts to pull away. His instincts scream at him to run. 

His mother’s grip is tight and it doesn’t falter. She is incredibly strong and she continues to drag him towards the lake. He glances behind her to see that the lake is no lake of water, but a pool of blood. Just like what his mother was covered in. 

He struggles to free himself, but he cannot get out of her hold. His feet touch the blood, which is surprisingly ice cold. 

“Stop!” he yells. His mother turns and a look of pure evil crosses her face. She takes both hands now and pulls him farther down. 

He has no way to escape, her strength is too much for him. 

As they get farther and farther in, Stiles starts to scream and call for help. Terror fills him as he realizes nobody is there to hear him. 

By now, the blood is up to his neck and Stiles braces himself. After a few moments it begins to fill his mouth. 

He spits it out, but more just fills its place. He keeps getting pulled farther and farther until his whole body is under. He keeps his eyes closed, afraid. He holds his breath. 

Even though he is fully under, his mother keeps pulling him farther down. Soon, his head feels light and his lungs burn. He tries to hold on but he accidently inhales and begins to choke. Blood fills in everywhere, blocking everything. His head starts to pound and he keeps going down, dragged along. 

His feet no longer touch the ground, but he doesn’t try to kick. He relaxes and gives in, letting the blood fill him, and letting his mother drag him farther, his body gone forever in the sea of red…

Stiles awakens from his nightmare, choking and coughing. Sweat drenches his clothes, his sheets are soaked too. His heart beats as fast as it did in his dream and he looks around. 

He is safe in his bedroom. He shakes as he tries to calm himself down. It is still dark outside. He checks his alarm clock, 4:47 AM. 

Stiles runs his hand across his face, wiping the sweat from it. 

He exhales loudly and lies awake, still terrified. 

\-------

The sleek Porsche turns quickly into the high school parking lot, all too eagerly cutting off Stiles’ blue jeep.  The boy behind the wheel of the jeep slams on his horn, although the Porsche continues – pulling in to the spot Stiles had hoped to get.

“Son of a bitch,” the brunette whispers, waiting for the driver of the car to get out. And when he does, Stiles sits behind the wheel, mouth agape.

He should’ve known who it was the second he saw the familiar emblem of the car.

As Jackson Whittemore steps out into the cool October air, tossing a leather jacket over his shoulder and adjusting his sunglasses, he smiles widely and says to no one in particular, “It’s good to be home.”

As Stiles watches, both confused and somewhat angry, Jackson continues on toward the front doors of Beacon Hills High School. 

Walking into the building gave Jackson an odd sense of nostalgia; it hasn’t been that long since he’s been here - only two months or so – yet it almost felt like he’s been gone a hundred years. He continues forward, passing a group of younger girls who stare at him with wide eyes. He knows that this is an expression he’ll be seeing a lot today.

He makes his way down the hallway, coming up to the main office doors when out of nowhere Lydia appears, her face pulled into a scowl.

“Would you care to explain to me what the hell you’re doing here?” she asks in her ‘I’m pissed off, don’t BS me’ tone that Jackson is all too familiar with.

“Good to see you too, Lydia,” he smiles, ignoring her tone completely, “how’s my girl?”

She frowns, “Oh I’m fantastic; making good grades, meeting new people, getting over your sorry ass… speaking of, what the hell are you doing here?”

He sighs and moves his arm so that the jacket is no longer over his shoulder, “I’ll tell you another time. The fact is I’m back and I’m here to stay. If you see McCall, let him know for me… now if you’ll excuse me I’ve got a schedule to pick up and you have two confused looking brunettes waiting back there for you.” Before he moves on, he gives his head a nod in their direction, a bright smile flashing.

Lydia turns her head slightly to see Allison and Camilla standing in the door way that leads to the science department. She turns back around just in time to see the offices door shut and Jackson standing at the front desk talking to the secretary.

With a huff, the strawberry blonde makes her way back to her friends – one of which has a million questions for her.

“Was that Jackson?” Allison asks once Lydia is standing in front of her.

“Yes, yes it was,” the shorter girl replies flatly.

“And what is he doing back?” Allison follows up as Camilla quietly asks “Who’s Jackson?”

“I don’t know and frankly, I don’t care. I am one hundred percent over Jackson I’m-going-to-London-oh-wait-now-I’m-back Whittemore. Let’s just get to chemistry.”

“Wait,” Camilla remarks, hurrying over to a boy who’s bent down picking up spilled books.

The two girls watch as Camilla helps Stiles pick everything up.

“Oh,” Stiles says, looking up and making eye contact with his friend’s cousin, “oh wow, uh, thank you. Thanks. Thanks a ton. Thank you.”

The dark haired girl hands the boy a literature book and takes a step back, “Yeah no problem, dude,” she says hurrying back over to Lydia and Allison.

“I’ll, uh, I’ll see you around!” Stiles hollers after her, letting out a sigh at how smoothly he hadn’t handled that situation.

“Unbelievable,” Lydia remarks going down the hallway, “Aiden, Jackson, and now Stiles… this is some serious horse…” the rest is lost though as the three girls walk into the chemistry room.

The five minute bell rings then, just as Scott walks into the building, “Hey man, I talked to Deaton.”

“Yeah?” Stiles asks as the two boys walk down the hall – also headed for chemistry.

“Apparently us seeing Mr. Harris yesterday has to do with the whole dying and coming back thing,” Scott says, “this is just the sort of thing he’d warned us about before we went under. So I guess it’s to be expected.”

“Yeah, seeing your dead-due-to-sacrifice teacher is totally the thing I’d had in mind.”

The pair steps into Mrs. Trumbolt’s classroom and sit down at their side-by-side seats, which just so happen to be behind Allison and Camilla.

Once again, Stiles is flustered over Allison’s cousin as she asks, “Is it just me or does Trumbolt look way too much like the ugly duckling from _Chicken Little_?”

Allison chuckles while Stiles full out laughs, awkwardly saying, “Oh yeah, yeah she does. God you’re funny.”

Camilla turns away from the brown haired boy and whispers to Allison, “Is he mental?”

“That’s just Stiles,” the short haired girl whispers back, “you’ll get used to it.”

Flipping her hair over her shoulder, Lydia looks down at page 223 in her chemistry text book, the page Mrs. Trumbolt had just asked everyone to flip to. Just as the bell rings, Jackson walks in – grabbing everyone’s attention, including Lydia’s. She huffs and rolls her eyes saying under her breath, “Relax people, it’s just the town ass.”

“Jackson’s back?” Scott asks anyone in his group of friends.

Stiles is the first to respond, “As of this morning I guess. Anyone know why he’s not in London anymore though?”

“Nope,” Allison answers, “he just is… Lydia isn’t pleased about it though.”

“She can hear you,” the girl in question snaps, “and I’m not simply ‘displeased.’ I’m full blown pissed off.”

“Oh yes,” the kids hear the teacher say, “just have a seat back there.”

The five kids then watch as Jackson struts between the aisles of lab tables and takes a seat beside the new kid, Nolan. The auburn haired Nolan briefly looks up at Jackson and then looks back down at his open notebook, uninterested. 

“Of course he’s in this class,” Lydia huffs, looking back at her textbook.

Everyone’s attention then turns to Mrs. Trumbolt, while Jackson shifts on his stool and looks over at Nolan.

“I’m Jackson Whittemore,” he says quietly, “and you are?”

Not looking up from his notebook he says flatly, “Nolan Hayes, it’s a pleasure.”

Jackson feels his brow furrow at the lack of interest this boy has in him, “What are you drawing?”

The boy looks up now and stares at Jackson with pale blue eyes, “It’s nothing. Just a symbol I keep… it’s nothing. So, uh, from the looks on everyone’s face in here you aren’t so new.”

Jackson nods his head, glad that the boy has taken an interest, “Yeah, I went to London for a semester. All boy’s school and everything, but I’m back now.”

Nolan nods, “Why’d you leave?”

“It’s complicated.”

“It always is,” the auburn haired boy replies calmly, looking away again to focus back on his drawing.

As the teacher continues her lecture on how to properly use the Bunsen burner, Jackson feels a tap on his shoulder. Upon turning around he sees Danny, sitting behind him with a confused expression on his face.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming back?” Danny asks, Jackson was once his best friend.

Jackson sighs, “It was kind of a spontaneous thing, you know?”

“Alright everyone,” Mrs. Trumbolt says excitedly, “now if you’ll get out the Bunsen burners, we’ll begin the lab!”

Making her way around each table, the teacher hands each set of students the materials they’ll need for the lab. Looking at Allison who’s busily getting the Bunsen burner out from the cabinet, Lydia says quickly, “I’ll be right back.”

The shorter girl sets her black pen down in the center of her book and walks back toward Jackson and Nolan. She smiles at the auburn haired boy and then looks lovingly at Jackson, taking her finger to slowly draw little designs on the boy’s arm.

“Jackson, sweetie, I forgot to bring a pen,” she lied sweetly, “do you think you could lend me one?”

Pulling his arm away from his ex-girlfriend, Jackson shakes his head, “I don’t think so. I’m sure McCall or Allison has one, ask one of them.”

Standing shell-shocked, Lydia feels the smile she’d been wearing fade as she stormed off back to her seat.

“Did he just…?” Scott begins.

Stiles nods his head, “Totally blow her off, oh yeah.”

“What’s up with that?” Scott asks.

“One of you is going to need to explain this to me,” Camilla says sharply, “Armpit kind of left out who square-jaw is.”

“Armpit,” Scott laughs, “why didn’t you tell your cousin who Jackson is?”

Allison covers her mouth as she tries not to laugh herself, “Jackson is Lydia’s ex-boyfriend. He was a Kanima for a while – which I’ll tell you all about when we get home – and now he’s a werewolf.”

“Yeah,” Stiles adds, “and before summer ended he went off to some hoity-toity, all boys school in London that’s super pompous and totally in character for Jackson.”

“Is there anyone around here who isn’t tied up in the supernatural world somehow?” Camilla asks, genuinely curious.

The three kids look around and then settle on using Nolan as an example, “As far as we know the new kid isn’t some kind of unnatural abomination,” Scott says, “then again he’s only been here a few days… so maybe I spoke too soon.”

“You don’t think…” Stiles asks.

“In Beacon Hills, a town which is basically a Supernatural Whos-it, I’d say it’s completely possible. I mean, for all we know Mrs. Trumbolt is another Darach,” Scott says, as the four of them turn and glance at their chemistry teacher who slowly takes a sip of coffee.

“A Darach?” Camilla asks.

“At home,” is all Allison says, as she begins to work on the lab, “Would you hand me the sodium?”

\-------

Erica sits on Derek’s couch, painting her nails when in walks Peter, no knock announcing his arrival. 

“Well if it isn’t the ghost of werewolves past. How are you sweetheart?” Peter asks with a smirk. 

Erica looks up and rolls her eyes, then refocuses her attention to her nails. 

“Okay, nice chat,” the man says, putting his hands in his pockets and walking away. 

Before he can get far, Derek blocks his path.

“What are you doing here?” he asks, arms crossed over his chest. 

“What with all the commotion, I figured I’d stop by. Thanks for telling me about Blondie over here, by the way,” he says, gesturing to Erica. 

“You’re not a part of the pack, why would you care?” Derek asks. 

“I’ve always had an interest in her,” Peter replies. 

Anger flashes on Derek’s face, “I think it’s time for you to leave.”

“Fine, fine. But before I go, do you want to tell me what’s off with her?” Peter says, actually seeming sincere in wanting to know.

Derek relaxes a little and answers, “We don’t know.”

“I sense something weird in her,” Peter states seriously. 

“What do you mean?” Derek asks. Peter’s statement also causes Erica to look up with curiosity. 

“There’s something inside her. It’s not right. Something I can’t quite put my finger on.”

Derek turns to study Erica, and she looks back at him, a hint of worry on her face. 

“But I should be going. Nice seeing you again, Erica,” Peter says smoothly, giving her one last smile before exiting the loft. 

“What was that about?” Isaac asks, entering the room. 

“I don’t know,” Derek answers. 

“There seems to be a lot we don’t know right now,” Isaac utters. 

“Tell me about it,” Derek replies, drifting off for a moment. “Anyways, you need to start going to school again next week, you’ve missed enough.”

“Why can’t I just drop out? It’s not like I need it,” Isaac replies, flustered. 

“But you do. Erica is doing better now. And I’m here. She’ll be fine for a few hours of you not being here.”

Isaac sighs, knowing he’s right, “Whatever. I’m going to go get something to eat, does anyone want anything?”

The two shake their heads. Isaac grabs his jacket and heads for the door. 

When he leaves, Derek starts making his way back to his room, when Erica stops him. 

“Hey, wait for a second. I want to talk to you.”

Derek looks at her for a moment, before making his way to sit on a chair by the couch Erica occupies. He doesn’t say anything, so Erica speaks. 

“Isaac won’t talk about it, and I don’t know who else to ask that will be straight up with me,” she starts. “What happened to Boyd? Did the Alpha Pack kill him after me? I know Cora got out, but what about him?”

Derek sighs loudly and runs his hands over his pant legs. 

“Boyd got out too. He, uh, was doing okay. But the alphas they… they made me kill him…” Derek trails off, unable to look Erica in the face. 

Her hand shoots to her mouth, and she doesn’t speak. Sorrow fills her body, and she holds back tears. 

After a minute, she asks, “Did he, did he suffer?”

“He… I got to hold him, while he was dying. He asked about lunar eclipses. He said you always wanted to know what happened to us during them. He was thinking of you right before he…”

A few minutes pass, no words spoken.

“You don’t remember any of it, do you? After you...” he asks. 

“Died? No.” More silence. 

“I just wish I knew what was happening,” she tells him. 

“Me too.”

\-------

 “Kate,” Allison says as she tosses in her bed, “just… apologize. No, no, NO!”

The final word is a scream and as Allison sits bolt upright in her bed, she puts her hand over her chest and waits as her heartbeat returns to normal.

“Are you alright?” Camilla asks from the corner of the room where she sits neatly on the hide-a-bed.

Allison nods, “Yeah, I’m fine. I didn’t mean to wake you. Just go back to sleep.”

Camilla chuckles and holds up _The Turn of the Screw_ , “I wasn’t asleep. In fact, I don’t really sleep all that much these days.”

“What? Why not?”

“Ever since I found out about the werewolves and being a hunter and everything… I just… it feels like sometimes everything is planned out for me. So I like to spend my nights doing something I can control. So I read.”

Allison smiles softly, “I’m sorry this is your life.”

“I’m sorry it’s your life too,” Camilla replies, looking back down at the book, “dreaming about Aunt Kate?”

“Yeah,” Allison admits, “I have been for a while now.”

“Is it always nightmares?”

“Yes,” the short haired girl whispers, “always. Do you mind if we stay up and talk? I can tell you about the Darach we were talking about in Chem.”

Camilla puts down her book and repositions herself, “I’m all ears.”

\-------

The next morning, Erica wakes up feeling refreshed. Isaac lays next to her, still asleep. Not wanting to wake him, she slips out of the bed quietly and tiptoes out of the room they shared. 

When she enters the living room, she sees Jackson and Derek sitting, engaged in a conversation. They both look up at her. 

“Well, hello, gorgeous. Glad to hear you’re alive again, even though I didn’t know you were dead in the first place.” 

A pissed off look passes over Derek’s face and Jackson notices. 

“What, too soon?” He asks. “Sorry.” His apology sounding far from sincere. 

“I didn’t know you were back in town,” Erica says, obviously not pleased with it. 

“And I didn’t know you were hooking up with Isaac.”

“We’re not, we—“ she starts, only to be interrupted by Derek. 

“They’re brother and sister. They find comfort in each other. Especially with her being gone for so long and Boyd… It helps them. Both of them,” he says a little too sharply.

Jackson holds up her hands in defeat, “Damn sorry. But I have a real question for you Erica. Why do you look like you’ve been running through the woods all night?”

“What?” she asks. She moves over to the mirror hanging near her and looks. A few sticks and leaves are tangled in her hair and dirt covers parts of her body. 

“It’s because she was,” Derek tells them. When Jackson’s brow furrows, he enlightens him. 

“The last two nights she’s left the loft and went into the woods. And she doesn’t remember how or why.”

“And I thought I had problems…” Jackson says. 

“I remember coming back the first time, why don’t I now?” 

“I don’t know. It took me a long time to find you. I didn’t bring Isaac, he needs rest for the full moon tonight. I thought you would snap out of it after a few minutes, but you didn’t. I had to carry you all the way back to the loft.”

Erica’s face shows a bit of sadness and confusion. 

“Well that’s hot,” Jackson utters, filling the room with awkwardness. Derek averts his eyes and Erica pulls at the shirt she is wearing, suddenly self-conscious. 

Suddenly, Isaac enters the space, rubbing sleep from his eyes. 

“Jackson?” he asks, confused. 

“In the flesh.”

Isaac, not wanting to deal with anything shakes his head and drapes his arm around Erica’s shoulders. 

“Woah,” he says, realizing the aftermath of her escape to the woods. “Did you get out again?”

“Yeah,” she says quietly. 

“Derek, did you take care of her alone? Why didn’t you wake me?”

“It’s fine, Isaac,” he replies. 

“What all do you remember?” Isaac asks Erica. 

“None of it.”

“Wait, so, Derek had to carry you the whole way?”

She nods once, and looks away. 

“Oh. Well, wanna go get some breakfast?”

She nods again and says, “Let me get cleaned up first.”

“Alright, I need to change too,” Isaac agrees. 

The two go back into their bedroom and shut the door. 

Jackson’s face blooms into a smile as he says, “Does that make you jealous?”

Derek rolls his eyes and gets up to leave. 

“Wait, what else did I miss?”

\-------


	3. Hungry Like the Wolf (3x15)

"So, let me get this straight, an Alpha Pack rolls into town and then there's a dark druid and somehow freaking McCall winds up being a True Alpha… whatever that is, and your sister who you thought was dead really isn't dead and also Allison's crazy, killer grandfather is dead," Jackson asks, not really making what Derek had said any clearer.

"Pretty much, yeah," the dark haired man says as he stares at the younger wolf.

"And Lydia is some sort of supernatural – you think a banshee, but you aren't sure?"

Derek nods his head.

"You really miss a lot when you leave the country," Jackson sighs, "so basically me coming here to tell you that I'll be in town for the full moon tonight was totally pointless because you aren't even my alpha anymore."

"I'm so sorry I wasted your time Jackson," Derek says, lacking sincerity, "but since you don't owe my any allegiance maybe you should get the hell out of my loft."

Jackson chuckles, "No problem. See you around, beta bud."

The lacrosse player stands up from where he sat and walks over to the door, just as he's about to leave Derek asks, "Can you control yourself tonight? I know last summer I taught you…"

"Yeah," Jackson responds, "I'll be fine."

"It's just everything with Erica, ya know? I can't be worried another one of mine is going to go tearing the town apart."

"I get it," Jackson answers, "I owe you for this summer though, Derek. If there's anything you need, I'm your man."

Derek raises an eyebrow, "You're kidding me, right?"

The boy shakes his head, "No, this is me being totally honest. If you need me, call me."

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

"Peter thanks for coming!" Scott's mother says to the handsome man.

"Oh it is my pleasure," he replies, bending down to kiss her hand. From behind his back, he pulls out blood red roses. "For you."

Melissa blushes and accepts them. She pushes them towards her face and smells them.

Scott rolls his eyes. He couldn't stop the fact that his mother felt something for Peter, but it didn't mean he had to like it.

Suddenly, an odd look crosses Melissa's face.

"These smell odd. They kind of smell like… like…"

"Blood?" Peter finishes for her. His eyes shine red as he leaps for Melissa.

"Mom!" Scott yells. He lunges for Peter but is stopped by a blow to the chest.

He flies back and crashes into the wall. Stunned his vision blurs. He tries to move, but he can't.

All the strength he has goes into getting his body to move but it won't.

"Luck of the Kanima," Peter says with a smile as he throws a knife dripping in venom aside.

"No!" Scott yells.

He watches as Peter holds his mother up by the throat, licking his lips.

In one quick swipe from his claws, he rips open Melissa's stomach.

"Mom!"

Blood pours from the woman as she screams. Peter swipes again and again and the screams pound in Scott's ears.

Tears pour from his eyes as he watches the life slip from the only person who had loved him his whole life.

Peter laughs as Melissa's body goes slack and her screams stop. Her eyes close and Peter throws her body down, finished with mauling her.

His eyes move to Scott, who lays motionless. He slowly makes his way to him and bends down to face him.

He lifts his claws and swipes down.

Before Scott can feel what happens, his eyes burst open. Even shirtless, Scott is hotter than imaginable. The windows blow in a cool morning breeze as his heart thumps against his chest.

Before he can start to calm down, his door slams open. On alert, Scott jumps up, ready to attack, claws extended.

Melissa jumps back, startled, "My God, Scott. Put those away. Your father's here. He wants to talk and I need to get to work."

Breathing heavily, Scott leaps from his bed and over to his mom to hug her.

"Geez, Scott. You're all sweaty, get off."

"Sorry. I just had a bad dream."

Melissa's face softens, "It's okay, honey. I gotta go, but get downstairs soon please. Your father being in my house makes me uncomfortable."

Melissa leaves for the day, and Scott makes his way downstairs to face his father.

"Scott, good, you're up. Listen I have to head out in about an hour, but before I leave I wanted to tell you that I'll be coming back. I was brought here for a reason, and I feel like I'm not done here."

"You don't—"

"I don't have time to chat, son. But I'll be back," he interrupts. He grabs his jacket from a chair and heads for the door. "See you later, Scott. Try and stay out of trouble."

When the door shuts, Scott blows out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

\-------

The loud knock on the door snaps Allison out of her stupor and pulls her to the present. Checking her watch the dark haired girl sees that it's ten to two; Lydia was here to go to the library for their Philosophy study date.

Walking out of the kitchen – leaving a half eaten turkey sandwich on the table – Allison yells to her cousin in the shower, "I'm leaving!" just before opening the apartment door.

"All ready," Lydia asks, tossing her ponytail over her shoulder so that it hangs long down her back.

"Yeah," Allison smiles.

Its then that Lydia hears someone singing Lady is a Tramp, "Who is that?"

"Oh it's Camilla, she's big into jazz."

Stepping over the threshold into the foyer, Lydia listens further, "She's actually incredible."

Allison nods, "She won her school talent show in LA last year singing that song."

"So not only does she chop the occasional werewolf in half, but she also sings. And… what else do you do exactly?"

"Well, I can tell you I won't be passing that Philosophy test if we don't get to the library to study. Come on already," Allison urges, "it's only two buildings down. If you're that enthralled by Camilla you can ask her to sing for you some other time."

Lydia nods and follows Allison out of the apartment just when Camilla hits a high note. As Allison shuts the door behind her, the two girls walk toward the elevator in silence, until they get in and Allison asks the question she'd been dying to have answered.

"What's up with Jackson?" the taller girl questions.

Lydia rolls her eyes, "Like I'd even begin to know. I went over to his house last night and he barely said two words to me before asking me to leave – yeah, he asked me to leave. And okay it wasn't rude or anything, but still. I guess in retrospect he and I had grown apart over the summer and he did stop talking to me once he'd gone to England… but whatever. He's still an ass."

The elevator dings when it reaches the ground floor, and the two girls exit into the large main floor and the make their way out to the street, smiling brightly at the doorman before leaving.

"So he didn't say why he left London or anything?"

"All he told me is that he was kicked out," Lydia replies, buttoning the top button of her jean jacket, "which isn't all that shocking. I'm sure private schools have stricter rules on being an ass."

Allison laughs, "Jackson Whittemore was expelled. Someone ought to put that in a history book."

The two then proceed down the street until they reach a building with two marble lions sitting neatly out front. They then carry on walking and head into the Beacon Hills Public Library, where the quickly find the Philosophy section and grab the book they need to study. As Lydia quizzes Allison on Thomas Hobbes and Jeremy Bentham, she watches the numerous passers-by.

While peering around at everyone – seeing several boys from the Lacrosse team flipping through old issues of Sports Illustrated - her eyes scan over the new boy Nolan, as he pulls out a chair and sits down. In his hands he holds a blue fronted book that Lydia recognizes as Anna Karenina.

"The right of the individual," Allison says until she notices that Lydia isn't paying attention, "what's up?"

She bites her lips and says, "Jackson and that kid were pretty friendly the other day, didn't you think?"

"Lydia, don't. You're over him, remember?"

"Come on, Allison, maybe Jackson mentioned something about me. What will it hurt to ask?"

Before Allison can object further the red haired girl goes off to talk to the pale boy. From her spot at the round table, Allison watched as Lydia approaches him. The brunette rolls her eyes and turns back around, grabbing Lydia's notebook to study further.

Standing while he stays seated, Lydia smiles until Nolan looks up from his book, "Uh… hi?" he asks cautiously.

"It's Nolan, right?" the girl asks, pulling out a chair to sit.

He nods his head slowly and looks around, "Were you looking for me?"

"Of course, sweetie," she beams, "I get the feeling you and I might be great friends if one of us tries hard enough. So what do you say?"

"What's the catch?" he retorts, smiling back at her.

Lydia frowns suddenly and then continues, "The boy who sits next to you in chemistry, Jackson Whittemore, what do you know about him?"

Nolan sat the book down on the table and shrugged, "I know that he's in three of my classes and that he went to London for a semester."

"Anything else?" Lydia asks hopefully.

"Well, he didn't say all that much to me when he came and ate lunch with me in the library," Nolan tells her, "but from what I gather something really big went down at the end of your guys' sophomore year and now he feels like he doesn't have anyone anymore."

"You can't each lunch in the library, Ms. Greer would lose it," Lydia says, thinking the blue eyed boy must be making something up.

"Jenny actually went to college with my mom, so you may not be able to, but I can. He also mentioned that you guys were together for two years and then everything went south and you ended things. He spent a lot of time in London trying to get over you," the boy adds, hoping this information will satisfy Lydia.

"Did he?" she says, the corners of her mouth turning up devilishly.

"He certainly did," Nolan nods, "now, uh, can I get back to my book?"

Lydia raises an eyebrow, "Is there any particular reason you have such a habit of being antisocial? I noticed it when we met and yesterday when you were with Jackson. You don't seem all that eager to be a part of the group."

"Maybe that's because I've been here for about two weeks and until Jackson sat next to me you didn't have any idea I was even in your chemistry class."

"Oh.. I'm sorry," Lydia says sincerely, "I hadn't realized -"

Nolan shakes his head, "It's okay, really. I can tell you've got a lot going on – you and all your friends seem to."

"You've got no idea," the girl replies, tugging at the hem of her purple skirt, "I really am sorry about the whole -"

"It's really okay. You can get back to Allison," he smiled, "I'll see you around."

As Lydia gets up and begins to walk, gaining a curious look from Allison, she quickly turns around and says, "Be careful tonight," before carrying on back to her friend.

\-------

"Okay hopefully these will hold," Stiles says, tugging on one of the chains binding Scott. He moves across the room and tugs on one holding Isaac too.

Isaac and Scott look at each other and hope for the best. With the full moon coming tonight, they both needed to be locked up, not being able to control themselves.

"Well, I'll be downstairs. Try not to kill me or anyone else," Stiles tells the two, rubbing his hands together.

He leaves the room and shuts the door.

Soon enough, the moon is upon the boys. They brace themselves for the change.

Minutes pass and nothing happens. The boys sit in silence, unsure of why.

The time ticks by and nothing happens.

"We're sure it's the full moon, right?" Isaac asks.

"Yeah," Scott answers.

They let more time pass and still nothing changes.

"What time is it?" Isaac asks. Scott looks over at the clock on his bedside table.

"9:14."

"And the moon came out at what, like 7:30?"

"Something like that," Scott replies.

"Do you think we can just control it now?" Isaac asks, his mind whirring.

Scott's eyes open wider, "Maybe we can. Maybe me being Alpha helped. And maybe you just got better. Maybe we don't need to be locked up anymore."

The two think about it for a minute, and wait a little longer just to be sure.

"Well I feel fine," Isaac says.

"Stiles!" Scott yells. "Stiiiiiiiiiles!"

The two suddenly hear heavy footsteps clobbering up the stairs and a big crash, followed by the door flying open.

"What? What?" Stiles yells, out of breath.

"We're not changing! We're fine!" Scott says, excited.

Stiles leans over and puts his hand on his chest, taking deep breaths.

"Wait, what?" he questions in between breaths.

"It's been almost two hours, and we haven't felt any need to kill anyone."

Stiles doesn't say anything, confused.

"So you can let us go!" Scott exclaims.

"I dunno… I don't want to be responsible if you go all wolfy right after I do," he says.

"Stiles, c'mon! We're totally fine!" Isaac tells him.

The boy stands and considers it. After a minute he takes a deep breath and moves to unchain the werewolves.

"I swear, if you guys kill me or anyone else, I'll be so pissed," he tells them.

When they both get free they smile at each other, happy that they can control themselves.

"You guys wanna play Mortal Kombat?" Stiles asks after a little bit.

"Let's go," Isaac says, standing up.

About an hour into playing, Scott and Isaac feel a warm rush go through their bodies.

Scott drops his controller and Isaac just stops playing.

"Dude, what are you doing?" Stiles says to Scott. "Dude what are YOU doing?" Stiles says to Isaac.

He pauses the game and looks at them.

"Oh, no. No no no. Stop it guys. Stop it right now!" Stiles says, standing up and backing away.

All of a sudden they go back to normal.

"What are you doing, Stiles?" Scott asks.

"What do you—? What? You guys just… What?"

"I need to see Allison…" Scott says randomly.

"Yeah," Isaac agrees. "That sounds like a good idea. Allison."

"What is even going on?" Stile exclaims.

"Take us to see Allison," Scott says, a kind of glaze covering his eyes.

The two boys head for the door and make their way to Stiles' jeep.

"Guys, seriously! What is this?"

When they don't respond, Stiles just grabs his jacket and keys and storms out after them.

When they pull up to the parking lot a bit later, Scott and Isaac don't wait for Stiles, they just get out.

"Do you guys want me to come? No? Yes?"

Neither one acknowledges him, so he adds, "Ok, I'll just stay here!"

He runs his hands through his hair and sighs, "Freaking werewolves."

Inside, Scott and Isaac aimlessly make their way to Allison's apartment.

When they arrive they both knock.

"I got it!" yells Allison, and with the boys' keen hearing, they hear her and perk up.

When the brunette answers the door, confusion flutters along her face.

She steps into the hallway and shuts the door.

"What are you guys doing here? Isn't it the full moon? I thought Stiles was locking you guys up!" she whisper-yells.

"Yeah, but we didn't change!" Scott answers, his eyes locked on Allison.

"Well then what are you guys doing here?" She looks at both of them and adds, "And why are you staring at me like that?"

Before anyone can say anything else, the door opens and out steps Camilla.

"Woah. Hey Scott. And….?"

Isaac looks over at the other brunette and his eyes go wide. He opens his mouth to speak, but no words come out. Camilla looks at him expectantly, but he doesn't answer.

"That's Isaac," Allison says. "I told you about him."

"I'm Isaac," he finally says, confirming what Allison told her cousin.

Camilla nods, "I can see that."

Isaac smiles, and his eyes don't leave the pretty girl.

She looks at him oddly and then turns to Allison, "I'm going out, I'll be home late."

"Alright, see ya," Allison says with a smile.

"I'll walk you to your car!" Isaac tells the girl before she heads down the hallway.

"Um, okay," she says, shooting Allison a confused look. Allison shrugs back.

When the two are out of the hallway, Allison turns her attention back to Scott.

"So what are you guys doing here, what happened?"

Scott doesn't answer, instead he leans in and plants a kiss on Allison's lips. For a second she is too shocked to respond.

When she can finally register the kiss she pushes him away.

"Scott, what are you doing?"

"I'm sorry. You're just so beautiful and I just… Can't control myself."

Allison breathes heavily and when Scott goes to kiss her again, she doesn't stop him.

For a few moments, the kiss is nice and passionate, but soon, it turns into a fierce, hungry one. With their tongues swirling, Scott pushes Allison against the wall and kisses her harder.

They continue this for a few minutes, taking a couple breaks to breathe. Scott wraps his arms around Allison and rests them on her back. They start kissing again.

"Scott!" Allison yelps as she feels his claws start to extend.

He pulls back, and has to use every ounce of self-control to stop.

"Allison, I—"

She interrupts him with her laughter, and he soon joins in too. His claws retract and he leans in for one last peck. But the hunger returns in his eyes.

Down in the parking lot, Isaac walks beside Camilla, examining her as they walk.

"So what's your story, wolf-boy?" Camilla asks, smiling as she looks at him.

"I, well, I, um…" Isaac says, not being able to find any words.

Camilla laughs, and Isaac smiles, her voice sounding beautiful to his ears.

"You're beautiful," Isaac blurts out. His eyes go wide, but Camilla just laughs.

"Thanks," she replies.

They come up next to a red '72 Oldsmobile Cutlass.

"Well, this is me," Camilla says.

Before another word is spoken, they hear a car door slamming and see Stiles coming towards them.

"Oh hey, Camilla. Weird seeing you here," he stammers.

"Well, I live here, so not that weird," she tells him.

"Your, your car is great. I mean classic, gorgeous. It's just… great," he says, stumbling over his words.

"Thank you," she says sincerely. "I try and take good care of her."

"She looks good," Isaac says in a husky voice, his eyes glued to Camilla rather than the car.

She blushes and pushes a piece of hair behind her ear.

"Well, I've got somewhere to be, so I'm going to head out," she tells the two.

The boys watch as she climbs into the car. She starts it up and waves as she drives away.

Both of the boys sigh.

\-------

Derek and Erica sit on opposite sides of a booth at Kirk's Diner.

In front of them are half-eaten burgers and fries. Derek leans back in the booth, full.

Erica sits and picks the split-ends in her hair.

All of a sudden she stands up and asks, "Can I have a quarter?"

A look of wonder crosses Derek's face, but he obliges, pulling one out of his pocket and placing it in her hand.

She struts over to the old-fashioned jukebox and puts the quarter inside. Derek keeps his eyes on her as she flips through the songs.

He has to admit, even though she set him back a few hundred dollars, he was happy she bought some of her own clothing after she went for breakfast with Isaac. Not only did the clothes fit her better, but they showed off just how gorgeous she was.

Not that Derek was interested, he tells himself, shaking his head. But still, he can't peel his eyes away from her.

She eventually choses a song, "Take It On The Run" by REO Speedwagon, and heads back to the booth.

"You like REO?" Derek asks, amused.

"Who doesn't?" she replies, a smile on her lips.

Derek laughs, and then asks her seriously, "You're feeling okay, though right? You don't feel like you want to kill anyone?"

"Not at the moment," she tells him. He nods.

"…I don't believe it, not for a minute. You're under the gun, so you take it on the run…" Erica sings along.

Abruptly, a rush of heat goes through Derek's body, making him space out. When he returns to the real world, Erica is looking at him oddly.

"You okay?" she asks.

Derek doesn't answer, because his eyes are devouring the girl in front of him.

She eyes him, wondering what was happening.

"Derek?"

Derek takes a deep breath and musters all the self-control he can and says, "I'll be right back."

"Alright," Erica says to him.

He gets up and goes into the men's room.

Inside, he heads to the sink. He grips the edges hard, nearly breaking it.

He breathes heavily as he tries to control his body's urges. He turns on the water and splashes water on his face.

When he finishes, he tries to stop thinking about Erica, but his mind runs wild.

He decides to go back out, his wants taking control of him. But when he leaves the restroom, the booth where Erica once sat is empty.

"Ma'am, did you see where the blonde went?" he asks the woman serving a table near him.

"Sorry, hon, I didn't," she replies as she pours coffee in another customer's mug.

Derek clenches his fist and walks over to his booth and sits to think for a minute.

\-------

Jackson knocks hard on the oak front door of the Mahealani house. His heart is racing as he waits for someone to answer the door.

As his palms sweat nervously, the door swings open and on the other side stands Danny's mother, "Why Jackson! When did you get back from London?" she asks with a smile.

"Just a few days okay, Mrs. M. Say is, uh, Danny around?"

The woman nods her head and allows Jackson entrance into her home, telling the dark blonde that her son is in his room. Jackson nods and smiles before heading up the familiar stairs and down the familiar hallway until he comes to Danny's bedroom – the door still had the sticker that says 'PARENTS NOT WELCOME' that they'd hung there when they'd been twelve.

Jackson again pounds on the door, his heart racing even more, until Danny pulls it open glistening with sweat. It's then Jackson hears Danny's workout playlist playing and realizes he'd interrupted his friend's workout.

"It's about time you came to see me," Danny says with a crooked smile, "I still am your best friend, right?"

Jackson chuckles and follows Danny into the bedroom, shutting the door behind himself, "Yeah, you're still my best friend."

Danny sits down on his bed and watches as Jackson paces the bedroom floor, "So, look, the thing is – is well, I'm back because I got kicked out of Bruce Castle School because… I did something really bad. I did it several times and I hadn't ever done something like it before, but then I did and it was great."

"You didn't like, sacrifice something did you? Because there's been plenty of that in Beacon Hills and I don't need to hear about it from you."

Again, Jackson chuckles, and goes to sit beside his childhood friend, "It was something more… carnal."

Danny raises an eyebrow, "Did you like sleep with one of the female teachers or something?"

Jackson puts his hand on Danny's knee, "You've always thought I was good looking, right Danny?"

"I've told you before, you're not my type."

"And I told you, I'm everyone's type. Just answer the question, Danny… do you think I'm good looking?"

Slowly, Jackson's hand moves up Danny's leg, fast approaching the dark haired boy's crotch.

"What are you getting at here, Jackson? What did you do?"

Jackson sighs, "I'm really gonna have to spell this out for you, aren't I?"

It's then Jackson reaches Danny's crotch and gently begins to massage it, "I got kicked out for sleeping with someone," the blue-green eyed boy leans in and whispers, "let's just say I was really hands on with my roommate and some of his friends."

Danny quickly bolts up from where he sat on the bed, "Look, Jackson, if you're gay or bi or whatever that's great, and I'm glad that you're able to be honest with yourself, but I've got a boyfriend and this is just… really weird."

Jackson looks down at his hand suddenly and sees it slowly de-claw, "I… I'm sorry. I don't know what that was."

"It's fine," Danny says, letting out a breath of relief, "it's really okay. But, dude, if you need someone to talk to about what you're feeling… you can come to me you know."

Jackson nods his head and begins to walk out of his friend's bedroom, "Thanks, Danny…"

Stepping out into the hallway, Jackson is overcome with confusion. Why had he just gone and confessed everything to Danny? Why was he painfully horny? And why had his sexual urges brought him to Danny and not one of the numerous girls he'd been interested in before? What was going on with him?

Walking out of the house and into the night, Jackson stares up at the moon and wonders why he couldn't just change like any regular full moon.

\-------

Peter quickly turns the corner and pauses when he reaches the Nurses Station. The sexual hunger he feels in his core is too much and if he doesn't find her soon he thinks he'll explode.

Grabbing the attention of a nurse – one with the name Olivia – he asks very quickly, "Is Melissa McCall around?"

The red haired nurse shakes her head, "No, she got off about three minutes ago. You might be able to catch her in the parking lot if you hurry."

Saying thanks as he takes off down the hall, Peter feels his sexual appetite grow. He doesn't just want to find Melissa anymore, he needs to find her. He skids around a man being pushed down the hall in a wheelchair and just as he gets out to the parking lot he sees the familiar McCall family car pulling out its parking spot and speeding away.

Looking up at the moon he screams, "DAMMIT!" before dropping to all fours and chasing after the car, following it down the nearly empty street until it reaches a stoplight. He then sees his chance and rushes over to the driver's window.

Tapping on the glass gently, Melissa jumps as she sees the once-alpha, "What do you want?" she asks without rolling down the car window – knowing he can hear her anyway.

He smiles and says, "I owe you Olive Garden."

She shakes her head no.

"How about we skip dinner then and head right to dessert?" it's now that his eyes glow blue and Melissa hits the gas and goes speeding down the road.

Scott's mother doesn't even bother to look back as she speeds down the road. Worrying though that he may be following her she goes just a bit faster.

Turning around and staring up at the big, full moon, Peter walks away. Feeling his canines ache all the while.

\-------

Derek sits at the booth, clenching his jaw. He hears the bell on the door clink and he turns, hoping it is Erica returning.

Instead, a pretty brunette walks in, walks up to the counter, and sits on a stool.

All thoughts of Erica are pushed aside as he eyeballs the girl.

He watches her as she orders a glass of water.

He decides to make a move and throws his money on the table to pay for his and Erica's food.

Oh right, Erica. Derek needs to find Erica. He begins to leave, but he hears the laugh of the girl at the counter and his eyes are drawn back to her.

For a flash, she turns around and their eyes meet. Her eyes are a gorgeous hazel, and Derek smiles at her. She smiles back but turns away right after.

Derek sidles up to the counter and plops down a few stools over.

"What are you doing alone on a Saturday night?" he asks the girl, causing her to look over at him.

She laughs, "Just coming in for a glass of water."

Derek smiles at her, "I can see that."

She smiles back, "And what are you doing along on a Saturday night?"

"Well right now I'm looking at one of the prettiest girls I've seen around here," he says to her, getting another laugh.

"Well you're about to see her walk away, because she has somewhere to be in ten minutes."

"Well I can always walk her out," he says, a flirtatious glint in his eyes.

"I think she'd like that," she says.

She stands up and places a dollar on the counter. Derek walks to the door and holds it open for her.

She exits the diner and Derek follows, keeping in pace right beside her.

"So where am I walking you to?" he asks.

"I parked down the street," she answers.

Out of nowhere, a man walking on the sidewalk with them accidently runs into the girl hard causing her to almost fall.

Derek uses his fast reflexes to catch her and they stay close, looking in each other's eyes. He pulls her upright and she smiles.

Hunger takes over and he leans in to kiss her. For a moment she allows it, she even kisses him back. But after a few seconds she pulls away.

"I really have to go," she says, breaking away from him and walking towards her car.

Derek sighs but follows her, wanting more.

When she gets to her car, she unlocks the door and stops.

"Goodnight," she says to Derek.

He leans in and kisses her again but this one is even shorter.

"You know, I really shouldn't be kissing werewolves, my father would have a fit," she says.

The smile leaves Derek's face.

"How did-?"

"I'm Camilla. Camilla Argent. Allison's cousin. And you're Derek Hale."

"I should've known…" he trails off.

"Eh, I won't tell anyone. See ya later, Derek," she says before getting in her red car and driving away.

Even though she was a hunter, Derek still found himself not regretting the kiss.

"Shit, Erica," he says, suddenly remembering the girl he lost.

He pulls out his phone and dials Isaac to leave a message, knowing the boy is locked up with Scott.

To Derek's surprise, the curly-haired boy answers.

"Hey Derek, what's going on?"

"Shouldn't you be chained up somewhere?" Derek questions.

"We were. But something happened. I don't know. We didn't feel the need to change," he says.

Derek doesn't say anything, thinking.

"Did you… I don't know, feel kind of weird tonight? Like instead of wanting to kill people, you wanted to—"

"Stop," Derek says, knowing what he was about to say. "It doesn't matter, that's not why I called. Erica's gone."

"Shit. Do you think she went off looking for someone? Because of…"

Derek considers it for a moment, a bit confused as to why she wouldn't just stay with him, but he brushes it aside.

"I don't know, we just need to go look for her. Call Jackson and see if she's with him. If she's not, tell him to meet us at the woods. Are you still with Scott?"

"Yeah, I'll bring him," Isaac says.

"Good," Derek replies before hanging up.

He breathes out loudly, and thinks hard. What the hell happened tonight?

He begins to walk to his car, and right after he gets in, his phone buzzes with a text.

She's not with Jackson. We're on our way.

Derek slams his hand against the steering wheel, frustrated that she was gone again.

\-------

"Stay together, let me know if you find anything," Derek tells Scott, Isaac, Jackson, and Stiles, who decided to come along.

"Yeah and try to control yourselves when you find her," Stiles adds. "Considering what I saw tonight, you guys are a little…"

He doesn't finish he sentence when he notices four glares upon him.

"Sorry, I'll just shut up," he says, raising his hands in surrender.

The guys start their search, following a faint scent of Erica.

"She was here tonight, I don't know how long ago, though," Derek tells everyone.

They walk for some time, and as the minutes tick, her scent gets a bit stronger.

A bit more time passes and they find themselves upon the Hale house.

"You don't think she…?" Scott asks.

"Won't hurt to look," Derek replies, walking up the steps of the house.

Slowly, they all make their way inside the dark house.

"Erica?" Isaac calls out.

When they enter what used to be the living room, they see Erica.

She doesn't look up at any of them instead, her gaze is empty. She stands still near a corner.

Isaac begins to take a step towards her, but he is stopped by Derek.

"There's someone else here," he growls.

The guys settle their eyes on the back of someone's head, sitting in a chair in the shadows.

"Show yourself," Derek commands.

The person stands up, identifying that they are male.

The mysterious man turns around, and elicits a gasp from some of the guys.

"Mr. Harris?" Scott says.

The man before them smiles, "Wrong. But good try."

"Then who are you?" Scott asks.

The man walks forward and comes around the chair, so he is in full view.

"Malum radix, cum malignitate radices… I have many names. You guys can call me Malum," he tells them, flashing his teeth.

When nobody says anything, he adds, "No Latin speakers, I'm guessing? I'm The Root."

"The Root of what?" Stiles asks.

"Evil," he replies.

"Why are you here?" Derek commands.

"To have some fun, of course!"

"Why do you have Erica? What did you do to her?" Isaac roars.

"Well, I'm the one responsible for bringing her back, so you shouldn't be yelling. You should be thanking me," he replies smoothly. "I liked her. I've been watching for a while, and after all that Alpha and Darach fun, I decided to shake things up and bring her back. But she's kind of my slave."

"How long have you been here?" Scott asks.

"Here? Not that long, a few weeks. But I was in The Other World for quite some time. I was trapped actually. All I could do was watch. But then three teenagers decided to come in, and so I latched on. And now here I am!"

Derek growls, causing a chuckle from The Root.

"Calm down, big guy," he says. Suddenly remembering something, he asks, "Oh! I forgot! How did you guys like the change tonight? I thought I would make the full moon a little bit nicer."

"You mean you –" Jackson starts, only to be interrupted by Malum.

"Made you horndogs?" he asks, pausing to laugh for a while before speaking again. "Oh, that was good. Dogs… because you're wolves…"

When nobody responds he adds, "Okay, tough crowd."

"What do you want?" Derek says angrily.

"Oh, I don't know yet. We'll see."

Malum turns his head and looks curiously at something behind them, but none of them seem to notice.

"Hmmm, well I've got to run. You can have her back. For now," he tells them.

He smiles one last time and snaps his fingers.

In an instant, all of the werewolves shift, with the exception of Erica.

It takes them a minute to get back to their human states, but when they do, they are livid.

"What the hell was that?" Jackson yells.

"What's going on?" Erica's voice says, snapping everyone's attention to her.

Isaac hurries over to her, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, why are we in the Hale house?"

Everyone looks around on each other, not knowing how to answer her.

"Well, long story short," Stiles says after a minute, "we have company."

\-------


	4. What Have I Done to Deserve This? (3x16)

Listening to Mr. Panzarella go on about the Civil War begins to bore Allison, and most of the other third period American History students. He talks more about General Lee and General Grant, when suddenly the dark haired Allison hears a loud scratching sound.

Confused the girl looks around, turning around to see her ex-boyfriend, "Did you hear that?" she whispers to Scott.

"Panz's lisp? Yeah I've heard it just about all year," the dark haired boy replies as he leans forward on the desk, supporting his face with his right hand.

"No… that like scratching noise. You don't hear that?"

"I don't hear anything," Scott replies, turning his focus back on to the teacher.

"Allison…" she hears whispered. Looking around the room she searches for the source, "I always loved those dopey brown eyes", she hears now.

The dark haired girl looks around again, more tensely now.

Her hands shoots up, "Mr. Panzarella, may I use the restroom?"

Before the balding man can reply, Allison runs out of the room and down the hall. Her heart pounds in her ears as her heels click down the wide hallway. She turns a sharp left corner as the scratching sound gets louder and louder, and before she knows it she stands face to face with her deceased Aunt Kate.

The blonde woman smiles and takes a step forward, forcing Allison to take a bigger step back.

"Remember the good ol' days?" Kate asks with a smile, pulling a hunting knife from her pocket. "When you would come stay at my house for the weekend and we'd eat cookie dough at one in the morning and talk about everything?"

Allison nods her head and watches as her aunt's face begins to turn gray.

"And now, you're out and about screwing the freaking enemy. You're making nice with the sick goddamn monsters that did this to me," the woman yells, taking the knife and slashing her own throat. Blood spurts from the source and sprays over Allison.

The younger girl trips and lands hard on the floor, "This isn't real!" she cries, feeling the sting of tears.

Kate bends down and gets right next to her niece's ear, "Oh, trust me Ali," she sighs, the smell of her breath like hot, sweet garbage, "it's real."

It's then Allison feels the hunting knife slam into her chest, and her eyes shut with the pain. She lets out a shriek as Kate yanks the knife upwards and says, "Be a good girl and keep it down. You'll wake the neighbors."

A warm hand is placed on Allison's shoulder and begins shaking her, "What are you doing?" Scott asks worriedly.

"Kate no," she shouts, opening her eyes to see Scott kneeling before her. "Wh-what? What? Where's Kate?"

"Allison, what are you talking about?"

The boy slowly helps her up off the floor and into a stable, standing position, "She was here, Scott. My Aunt Kate was here and she was trying to k-kill me."

Tears slowly begin to slide down her face, as the young hunter crumbles forward in fear. Scott is quick to wrap her in a hug and console her, shushing her and repeating over and over, "You're okay. I won't let anyone hurt you. You're safe, I promise…"

As Scott does so, he wonders how blood got in Allison's hair.

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Eagerly talking about supply and demand, Coach Finstock's comments fall on deaf ears. Nearly every student in the seventh period economics class has tuned out, it's simply another boring Tuesday afternoon to the kids in the room.

Sitting in the back, Jackson watches intently as Nolan scribbles furiously into his notebook. Catching glances of the product here and there, the lacrosse player can tell the other boy is drawing some sort of animal. Nolan pulls his hand away just long enough for Jackson to fully tell what it is the blue-eyed boy has drawn – it's a wolf.

"What's with that?" Jackson asks, grabbing Nolan's attention.

The boy looks over at him, "It's a doodle," he says nervously, "just a silly little doodle."

"Kind of looks like a werewo-"

Nolan quickly slams the purple notebook shut, "It's just some stupid doodle. Honest. Not a werewolf at all, just a drawing… in fact it wasn't even a wolf. It was supposed to be my dog; clearly my artistry skills aren't as great as I thought."

"Hayes," Finstock shouts making his way to the back of the room to stand in front of the two boys, "what's trade-off?" the man waits eagerly for Nolan to respond, almost hoping he gets the answer wrong.

"It's the opportunity cost or best alternative," the boy says, not breaking eye contact with Jackson.

The coach laughs, "It amazes me that the only time a student knows the answer to a question he's from out of state. What is with you freaking jack offs?"

Everyone in the room shifts uncomfortably in their seats.

"It was a lot better than you think," Jackson whispers as Finstock goes up to write an example on the chalk board, "and that symbol you drew the other day in Chem was pretty impressive too."

Nolan smiles at him weakly, "They're just doodles."

Two rows away from the boys, Camilla and Isaac sit, quietly talking with each other.

"I didn't mean to!" Camilla whispers a bit loudly, laughing.

"You didn't mean to make out with Derek? C'mon!" Isaac replies, smiling at her.

"Really! He kissed me! I got carried away!" she assures him. "I'm surprised you're not weirded out by it."

Isaac shrugs, "Nah. Derek was under that lust thing, and I know how forceful he can get."

Before Camilla can continue their conversation, Mr. Finstock's voice booms at Isaac.

"Lahey! Stop flirting and start paying attention. Oh, and while I'm talking to you, do you mind telling me why you haven't been to any of the lacrosse practices?"

Isaac looks at him and calmly answers, "I decided to quit."

"To quit?" the teacher yells. "To quit? You're one of my best guys!"

"My heart just isn't in it anymore, and I have better things to be doing when I'm not in school," he tells him, looking over and smiling at Camilla, making her blush.

The man sighs loudly and turns back to the board, muttering under his breath, "Damn teenagers and their hormones."

\-------

"I'm just wondering why he chose me of all people," Erica says to Derek later that day. The two had been talking about The Root for a while.

"Well, he said he had been watching us for a while, and he wanted to affect us I guess. And bringing you back did just that…" he trails off.

"Are you glad he did?" Erica asks. "I mean, I just feel like me being here as his servant and not being able to control myself at times isn't good."

Derek exhales, thinking about how to answer her question.

"I'm happy you're back," he says after a minute. "Our pack lost a lot with you and Boyd being gone. We just need to find a way to bring all of you back, and not have that Malum guy being in control of any part of you."

"I don't think it will be easy," she says quietly.

"Nothing ever is," he tells her.

Suddenly, the door opens and in walks Jackson, unannounced.

"You really need to learn how to knock," Derek tells the boy.

"Hey, we're all brothers and sisters here. Even though some of us are clearly more than that," Jackson shoots back at him.

"What do you want, Jackson?" Derek angrily asks.

"Well, there's this new kid," he says, taking a seat by Erica on the couch, "and something's off with him. One day he's drawing some weird symbol and then today I see him drawing werewolves."

Derek rolls his eyes, "Look, I've got The Root of Evil on my hands, I don't have time to listen to your crap about some nerd who likes to draw."

"But he—"

"Jackson, I'm serious."

"Maybe he's just Team Jacob," Erica says with a snarky smile on her face.

Jackson stands up, annoyed.

"Whatever," he says, making his way to leave.

\-------

Allison is sitting on her couch, pretending to read her American History book when she hears a knock at the door.

Her father is in the kitchen, which is closer to the door, so he answers.

She goes back to her book, but can barely start reading about The Battle of Gettysburg before her dad calls out to her.

"Allison, your friend Isaac is here to see you!"

A puzzled look crosses her face but she stands up and makes her way over to the door.

"Uh, hey Allison," he says. "Um, actually I'm here for Camilla."

"Oh," she says, another puzzled look going over her face.

"Camilla!" she yells.

Both Allison and her dad stand by the door as they wait for Camilla. Out in the hallway, Isaac rocks back and forth on his heels awkwardly.

When the brunette finally emerges, she smiles at the boy.

She sidles up to the door, and looks at Chris and Allison expectantly.

"Oh, right," Chris says at the same time Allison says, "Sorry."

The father and daughter both go back to their original spots, but strain their ears to listen.

"Hey, Isaac," Camilla greets. "What are you doing here?"

"I don't know, I just wanted to talk to you again. I didn't have your number, otherwise I would've called first…"

"I see. Well I was just about to head out so maybe some other time?"

"Well if you want some company I would be happy to oblige," Isaac offers.

Camilla thinks for a moment and says, "Okay. Let me go grab my things."

She shuts the door and returns after a minute, "Let's go! You gonna drive?"

"Sure," he replies, following her down the hall.

The two make it to Isaac's car and buckle in.

"Where to, malady?" he asks.

Camilla laughs, "Are you sure you're not still under that lust spell?"

"If I was, I don't think I could keep my hands off of you," Isaac replies.

Camilla blushes and looks down at her hands.

"Sorry," Isaac says. "Sometimes I don't think before I say things."

"It's okay," Camilla says. "Sometimes I like a guy who tells me just what he's thinking."

Isaac smiles at her.

"Well, let's go!" Camilla says, breaking the silence. "Take a left from the parking lot and go to the stoplight. I'll direct you from there."

The two drive for a little over five minutes, listening to a Red Hot Chili Peppers album along the way.

Isaac glances over at Camilla, who sings along to the song Slow Cheetah.

"You're a really good singer," he tells her with a glint of admiration in his eyes.

"Oh you just wait and see," she says with a smile.

A few minutes later, Camilla directs him to pull into a parking lot.

They exit the car and head into a dimly lit building. Isaac has no idea what the place is. He can hear music coming from the inside, and when Camilla opens the door, it gets louder.

"What is this place?" he asks her.

"It's a jazz bar," Camilla tells him over the music. The two make their way through the small, crowded space and find a small table to sit at.

"You come here a lot?" Isaac asks when Camilla waves at a few of the workers.

"Yeah, I do. Ever since I got here I have been."

"You come to listen or sing or what?" he asks, amused and entranced.

"You're about to find out," she says with a seductive smile.

She waves over a waitress and orders herself a water and Isaac orders a Coke.

"This place seems pretty cool," he tells her honestly.

He is intrigued by the people and the music. On stage, an older man plays his saxophone and the sound is amazing.

When the song ends, the whole bar claps and the man exits the stage.

Before Isaac can talk to Camilla, a woman appears on stage and begins speaking into a microphone.

"Alright, that was Brad and his sax! Up next is an amazing lady who joined us recently. We're so lucky to have found her. Everyone give it up for Miss Camilla Argent!"

The crowd cheers and Camilla gives Isaac one last smile before sauntering up to the stage.

Isaac sits, eyes wide and mouth hanging open.

The first notes to My Funny Valentine play and Isaac watches as Camilla brings the microphone to her mouth.

When Camilla starts, Isaac's stomach does a flip. Her voice is amazing. Sultry and sexy.

She gets into the song, and Isaac's eyes are glued to her. She moves fluidly with the music.

She hasn't looked at Isaac, but when she finally does, she sings right to him, their eyes locked.

Isaac couldn't look away if he tried.

Camilla winks at Isaac, which earns a whistle from the crowd. She looks away and engages with the rest of the audience who are just as amazed as Isaac.

When the song ends, everyone cheers and stands up. She smiles and bows and exits the stage, returning to the table.

She takes a long sip of her water as Isaac exclaims, "Wow. That was so amazing. I can't…."

Camilla laughs and smiles at him, "So you liked it?"

"I loved it."

"You know, I did this back at home too, and I never told anyone. You're the first person who knows."

"Well you should definitely tell more people. What you can do is amazing."

Camilla blushes again, "I usually don't get like this. Usually I make other people blush."

The two lock eyes again, just like during the song. Attraction flows through the two.

"You really are wonderful. That was probably the sexiest thing I've seen in my life," Isaac says, not moving his eyes from hers.

"And you're probably the only guy I've ever wanted to sing for," she adds with a smile.

With no warning, Isaac leans in and kisses Camilla for the first time. Passion shoots through them, but they stop it after a few seconds, not wanting to get out of control.

"That was almost as great as your singing," Isaac tells the girl, resting his forehead on hers.

She laughs and grabs his hand on the table, "Let's dance." She pulls him up and over to a small dance floor where three other couples were already dancing to the song played by a woman on stage.

\-------

Stiles moans after shoving a spoonful of mac-n-cheese into his mouth.

"So good," he says with his mouth full.

His father looks over at him and shakes his head.

"You've had this so many times, you'd think it would have lost its deliciousness by now."

"Mm mmm," he says, shaking his head. "No way."

He piles in another spoonful and grabs a roll from the plate in the middle of the table.

The two eat for a few minutes in silence until Stiles' father breaks it.

"It's your fault you know."

"What?" Stiles says, swallowing his latest bite of food.

"Your mother dying. It's all your fault." His father chews hard, his eyes stone cold.

"Dad, what—"

"You heard me. Her death was your damn fault."

Stiles gulps and looks confused.

"But, I—"

His father stands up suddenly and screams, "No! It was all you!"

The sheriff grabs the dinner table and in one quick motion he flips it over.

Anger radiates from him and Stiles sits, frozen.

"Dad, calm down!"

The man rushes forward and grabs Stiles by his shirt.

"You ungrateful little bastard! You took away the one thing I loved! Now I'm stuck on this damned earth with the most disgusting person I've ever met! And he's my own son!"

He lets go of the shirt and pushes Stiles, making his chair tip backwards and fall.

Stiles tries to get up, but his father comes closer. He bends down and picks up a knife that was used to cut the steak they had been eating.

Stiles tries to scramble away, but his father crushes his foot down on his leg, causing the boy to scream out in pain.

He stops moving and watches as his father bends down to his level.

He raises the knife up and is about to plunge the knife in when the phone rings.

Stiles is shaken from his hallucination and looks around. He is still in his chair, and the table is still upright. His father sits at the other end, chewing his food and reading the newspaper.

"Are you going to answer that?" His father asks, pausing his reading to look up at his son.

"Y-yeah," he answers. He fumbles to get his phone out of his pocket, still scared.

"What's up, Scott?" he says after reading the caller-id.

"It's Lydia," the boy on the other line says. "She found another body."

\-------

Scott, Allison, and Stiles all pull up to the playground's parking lot in Stiles' jeep. Sitting distractedly on the curb is Lydia, her knees are pulled tight to her chest and she looks even more pale than usual.

"I'm going to text Camilla," Allison says from the back. The two boys upfront nod, understanding why Allison wants to get her cousin's toes wet in their supernatural lives.

Once Stiles is parked the three teens get out of the car and hurry over to Lydia who gets up when she sees them. Her side braid is beginning to fall out and she looks like she's been crying.

"It's… it's just a little girl," Lydia says, as a tear slides down her cheek, "I was headed to the mall and then I found myself here and then I found her. She was just lying there on the slide like a broken bird and…"

Stiles pulls her into a hug and holds her tightly, "Call my dad," he says as Lydia clings to him.

"Well, Camilla isn't here yet," Allison begins.

"Who cares? That little kid is still going to be dead when she gets here. Call my dad now, Scott," Stiles says as he rubs his hand over Lydia's small back.

\-------

Back at the jazz bar, Camilla and Isaac are laughing as they make their way back to the table hand in hand.

"I'm glad you came with me," she says.

"Me too," Isaac agrees.

"I never thought I'd ever let anyone know this side of me. I mean, my family knows I like to sing and everything, but they don't think it's anything more than just around home or in a school talent show."

"You sang in a talent show?" Isaac says, smiling and teasing her.

"Yes!" she laughs. "And I won it, thank you very much."

"I'm not worthy," he replies, doing a mock bow.

She laughs again but is interrupted when her phone beeps.

"It's Allison," she tells him as she checks the message. Her eyes scan the phone quickly and the fun and happiness drains from her face. "Lydia found a body."

Isaac's eyes open wide in disbelief and the two jump up and gather their things, knowing they have to go.

When they get outside, the cool air hits them hard and Camilla shivers, not having brought a thick enough coat.

Isaac takes his off and puts it over her. He pulls her closer to him as they make their way to his car.

\-------

The next day, Scott, Stiles, Jackson and the rest of the lacrosse team make their way into the locker room after a hard practice.

Jackson immediately heads to the showers, but Scott and Stiles linger at their lockers.

"What do you think killed that girl?" Stiles asks in a hushed voice.

"I have no idea, but it didn't look good," Scott whispers back.

They don't speak of it anymore and Stiles makes his way over to the showers. Scott is about to when his phone starts ringing. He sees it's his mom and answers.

"Good, you answered. I didn't know if you were done with practice yet," she says.

"Yeah I was just about to shower, what's up?"

"Well you might want to sit down for this," she starts. "That body that was found last night had similar marks to a body we received not that long ago. And by similar I mean exactly the same. I thought this would be something up your alley."

"What do you mean? We didn't see any marks on her," Scott says to his mother.

"They were under her clothes," she tells him with sadness in her voice. "All over her chest. It looked like some ritual thing. They were on the chest of another body too."

Scott runs his free hand through his hair, "What does that mean?"

"Hell if I know. They don't teach this stuff at DeVry."

"Okay well can you send me a picture of the symbols so I can show Derek?"

Melissa breathes out a heavy sigh, "I'll try. Maybe I should just switch to being the coroner."

"Thanks, Mom. I'll call you later."

"Yeah yeah yeah."

Scott quickly jumps in the shower and tells Stiles and Jackson not to leave right away.

"Make it quick, McCall," Jackson says with a towel hugging his hips as he walks over to the boy's locker.

Scott, making sure everyone else has left, informs them about the information from his mom.

"No way. What the hell does this mean?" Stiles says after learning the news.

"I have no idea," Scott replies. His phone suddenly beeps, signaling two new picture messages.

"Here's the symbols!" Scott exclaims.

When he opens the text, the boys all gag at the sight.

One of bodies was clearly fresh, the other was obviously a picture of a picture. The body must have already been gone, but the file was still there.

Jackson looks closer at the picture and sighs.

"I've seen that before…"

\-------

"It's Nolan," Jackson says to Derek and the rest of the pack once they're at the loft, "in Chemistry I saw him drawing that symbol and then yesterday in econ he was drawing wolves. He knows something, I'm telling you."

Derek nods, "I think he and I should have a little chat."

"Maybe I should go," Scott says, "I am the Alpha."

"No offense Scott, but if we're trying to get this kid to confess why he's drawing symbols found on dead people, we'll need to intimidate him," Derek admits.

"I can be intimidating," Scott remarks.

Stiles speaks first, "No, no you can't man. It's the whole hair thing."

"And the crooked jaw thing," Camilla adds.

"Plus your eyes, you have very nice eyes," Allison continues.

"And you do this thing where you just kind of instantly want to help a person," Isaac concludes.

"Okay," Scott says, "I'm not a big bad alpha. Sorry about it."

Derek feels a chuckle building in his chest, but he suppresses it, "So I'll deal with Da Vinci."

As the bigger werewolf begins to walk to the door, Jackson rushes to catch up with him, "Two things. One, you don't know where he lives. Two, you need to go easy on him – he won't just open up to some random stranger."

"Fine you can come too," Derek says, all the while rolling his eyes, "I need you for directions anyways."

"Oh, I don't know where he lives."

"Seriously? You.. okay, who would know where he lives?"

"Lydia," Allison suggests, "she's been hanging around with him lately."

Derek nods, "Wow, okay, so the Dynamic Dummies and I are going to go talk to this kid. Awesome."

The two werewolves leave the loft then, walking down and out of the building to file into Derek's sleek, black Camaro. They drive in silence all the way to Lydia's house and when the reach the white shuttered house, Jackson goes up to the door and somehow manages to get his ex-girlfriend to agree to come with them.

As the strawberry blonde gets into the back seat, she buckles her seatbelt and then says, "He lives on Clermont Street. His house is 2102."

\-------

The three people in the car pull up to the Hayes house in nearly no time at all. They'd ridden in silence until Lydia finally breaks the quiet and says, "Jackson, you or me ought to go to the door. If Derek goes there's no way he'll talk to us."

"Why is that?" Derek questions.

"Well," Jackson begins, "if Scott isn't intimidating enough, you're too intimidating."

Derek sighs, "Whatever. Let's just go talk to this kid."

Lydia gets out of the car first and walks up to the door, her boots making a soft pattering sound on the walkway that leads to the front porch of the yellow house. It's such an ordinary looking house, she thinks, why couldn't Nolan just be a regular boy who doesn't have to get mixed up in this stuff?

As she steps up onto the porch she looks behind her and says, "Let me do the talking."

The men just nod their heads and she's glad that both Derek and Jackson have both learned to listen.

Her finger presses the doorbell and as she waits she takes a quick glance at her blue, shimmering nail polish. The three of them wait on the porch for only a moment before they hear a dog barking from the backyard, and then movement inside the house.

It isn't long before Nolan pulls open the door, in a Dartmouth t-shirt and holey jeans.

"Where's the fire?" he asks.

"Nolan, I really hope this doesn't sound way too insane, but…"

His face goes blank and Derek and Jackson can hear his heart rate pick up, "Crap. Okay, look what I saw on Saturday was no big deal at all. So what if you turn into wolves with claws? We've all got issues," he stammers, "I mean, I've got a mango allergy. My point is that I'll keep quiet and stop drawing questionable images and you won't have to kill me. Please don't kill me."

"We aren't going to kill you," Derek says from behind Lydia, "not yet anyway."

"Is that helpful?" Lydia snaps, turning around to scold the werewolf.

Derek cracks a grin and smiles, "No, but it sure is fun."

As the red head and the brunette begin to bicker, Jackson steps into the light of the house and smiles, "We were kind of hoping we could see that symbol you drew."

"The…? Oh, yeah – as long as tall, dark, and bloodthirsty promises not to kill me," Nolan replies, shooting a nervous look at Derek.

"He won't," Lydia and Jackson say in unison.

Nolan nods his head and then allows the three people entrance into his house. They all look around, as though expecting there to be a trap. When there isn't, they follow Nolan down a wide hall, painted cream and decorated with various pictures - of what Lydia, Jackson, and Derek can only assume are family - then up the stairs, and to his bedroom. Upon entering, a tabby cat that lies asleep on his bed stands up, suddenly awake, and begins hissing at Jackson and Derek violently. The two men simply chuckle.

"Charlton Heston," the cat's owner scolds, "cut it out."

"You named your cat Charlton Heston?" Derek asks.

Nolan nods, "You should see his Moses impression."

Instead of stopping though, the cat jumps off the bed and runs off down the hall. Pushing the incident aside, Nolan walks over to his backpack and fishes his red chemistry notebook out; flipping through the pages until he comes to the page that holds the image the three visitors had been looking for. He points at it absently and watches as Derek pulls out his phone and places it beside his drawing.

"They match," the man says.

Examining the phone Nolan says, "Well, crap."

"What is it?" Lydia questions.

"I did some research on that thing once I finished drawing it," the boy replies, "It turns out that it's something pretty big. It's a Resurrection Triquetra… which is used in raising the dead, obviously. The ankh in the top there stands for life, the amenta on the right is for the dead, and the ka on the left is spirit. And that little line in the center is a maat, which is for balance."

"And it's being carved into people because…?" Lydia asks.

"For one spirit to regain life, another spirit has to die; an eye for an eye, tit for tat and all that."

"Erica," Derek says, "that thing brought Erica back with that."

"So then she's not all herself," Nolan says, grabbing the group's attention again. "According to legend, once a person is brought back they owe some sort of allegiance to whoever raised them. Although the legend also says that not just anyone can bring someone back from the dead, it's only ever been done by something called Malum…"

"…Radix," Jackson says at the same time as Nolan, "Yeah, we've met."

"You can't have, he's not even in this reality," Nolan protests.

"How do you even know all of this?" Lydia remarks, "I mean it took me seeing Jackson turning into a Kanima to get my head into all the supernatural action and you just show up here and know all this stuff."

"Remember how I told you my father is a professor at UCBH? Well, he teaches occult and parapsychology. I've kind of got a lot of information on all things weird."

Lydia follows up, "So what, seeing a bunch of werewolves wasn't a rude awakening for you?"

"Not when they look like Jackson," Nolan says under his breath, before saying in his normal tone, "Not totally. I grew up around this stuff; I've read tons of legends and folklore about lycanthropy and the like. Actually seeing someone all werewolfy was a little unsettling at first, yes, but I wasn't about to run through the streets screaming werewolf."

"Then I definitely would've had to kill you," Derek says slyly.

"Stop threatening him," Jackson snaps at his once-alpha, evoking a glare from both Derek and Lydia.

Lydia shakes her head, ignoring the feeling in her gut that says something is extremely off with Jackson, and says, "Guys, if that's what brought Erica back to life, and we just found another body then that means—"

"Someone else is coming back," Derek finishes.

\-------

"We could play Scattegories while we wait," Stiles suggests to the group of Isaac, Camilla, Allison, Scott, and Erica.

Erica rolls her eyes and picks up a nail file from the coffee table, "No thanks."

Stiles looks around at everyone else expectantly. Nobody says anything.

"Camilla, do you, uh, have any suggestions?" he asks shakily.

She looks over at him with a blank face, "No."

"Alrighty, then," Stiles says awkwardly, running his hands over his pant legs.

Everyone sits in an awkward silence.

Cuddled close together, Isaac and Camilla laugh at tumblr posts on Camilla's phone. Scott and Allison both try glancing at each other secretly, but end up looking at the same time. Erica is still filing her nails.

"I'm Erica, by the way," Erica speaks up, looking at Camilla.

"Oh, God, sorry. I'm Camilla, Allison's cousin. I promise I won't try to kill you," she says sincerely.

"You're already my favorite Argent," Erica says with a smiling, shooting daggers at Allison.

Camilla smiles and turns back to Isaac who smiles back at her, his eyes gleaming.

"I'm Stiles," Stiles says to Camilla.

"I know, we've met already" she says, laughing.

"Well, yeah, but we never really talk so…" he trails off.

Camilla nods her head.

Scott laughs, which causes Allison to laugh.

The two are interrupted when Derek walks in. All eyes are on him as he explains the information he found out from Nolan.

The group is silent while they process the newly learned facts.

"Does it necessarily mean someone else is coming back? Couldn't that just mean The Root is using another body? I mean he was in Mr. Harris's body, what if he decided to switch?" Scott asks.

"That's not how it works," Derek says. "This thing brings back the real person. The Root just takes over bodies, I don't think he has to resurrect them since he's controlling the whole body, and the spirit or whatever isn't brought back. It's just a meat suit."

"So if this was used to bring me back, who was it carved into?" Erica asks.

"Well, we'll need to look at the death records and see who died around the time you came back," Derek answers the blonde.

Before she can respond Allison says, "Gerard. Gerard died the night she came back."

 -------


	5. Save The Last Dance For Me (3x17)

Derek and Erica sit on the couch in Derek's loft late at night.

"It just freaks me out," Erica says to Derek. "I feel like at any minute I'll be in another trance and I'll kill someone."

Derek sighs, understanding her worries.

"I know. But I won't let you do that. Neither will Isaac. We're your pack, and we're always here to watch out for you."

Erica looks away from Derek's eyes, but before she did, Derek caught a look of sadness.

"What's on your mind?" he asks her in a gentle voice.

"I just hate feeling like a burden. One of you always has to keep an eye on me. I can't be trusted, and that is just added stress for the pack."

"Erica—" Derek starts, only to be interrupted.

"Really? Why should I be kept alive? We all know something isn't right with me, and that the Malum guy is behind it!" Erica's voice gets louder as she gets more upset. "I don't want to be the reason something goes wrong. I'm like a ticking time bomb!"

Erica stands up from the couch and storms towards the door to leave, her emotions taking over.

Derek stands up too, and in an instant he is right behind her, grabbing her arm and turning her around.

"Derek, stop! I'm not worth it. One day all hell is going to break lose, and it will all be because of me. Just let me go! I don't want to be—"

Her voice gets cut off when Derek leans forward and presses his lips against hers. Her arm is still in his grip, and she tenses up at first. After a few seconds she relaxes and kisses him back.

When they break apart, their hearts are beating fast.  
"I will never let anything happen to you. You are in this pack, and you sure as hell aren't leaving it," Derek says in a soft but commanding voice. Erica gulps and nods.

Derek lets go of her arm and turns to go to his bedroom.

Erica stands still and asks, "What was that for?"

Derek faces her and smiles a small smile before turning back and making his way to his room.

Erica shakes her head and goes to her own room.

She lays down on the bed, and smiles. She wishes Isaac was there to talk to her about what just happened, but he was somewhere with Camilla.

Thoughts run through Erica's mind. What did Derek mean by the kiss? Was he just trying to calm her down? Was it a friendly kiss? Did he feel something more for her? Should she even tell Isaac? Where was Isaac?

Before she could question anything else, Isaac crept into the room.

"Oh hey," he says when he sees Erica is awake. "I didn't think you'd be up."

"Trying to sneak in, Isaac?" Erica teases.

Isaac smiles as he begins to change into his pajamas.

"Not really. It's not like we have a curfew."

"True," Erica complies. "What were you doing anyways?"

"Camilla and I were just talking all night, and we didn't realize what time it was. Her dad was freaking out when I dropped her off."

Erica smiles a sincere smile. She was happy for him.

"You really like this girl, huh?" she asks.

"I do," he replies as he crawls in next to her.

"I wish I could get to know her better," Erica tells him. "She seems pretty cool."

"She's amazing," Isaac says.

Erica wishes she could be in love. Derek pops into her mind again and she frowns. She begins to wonder if she should say anything to Isaac, but decides not to.

"Derek says I can start going to school again," Erica says.

"Really?" Isaac asks, excitement filling his voice.

"Yeah. He says he'll get things figured out so no questions are asked."

"How's that going to work?"

"I have no idea," Erica answers truthfully.

In the other bedroom, Derek lays in his bed, trying to fall asleep.

After a few minutes, he begins to doze off when the door opens and a girl walks in, her features covered in shadows.

"Erica?" he asks.

The figure moves to the end of his bed and doesn't answer him.

"What are you doing?" he asks. He reaches over to his lamp and turns it on.

The light illuminates the girl, and Derek sees that it's not Erica, but Paige, the love of his life in high school.

His senses go on alert because he knows she can't be there, she's dead.

She lifts up her arms in surrender and says, "Hey, it's just a dream. Relax. Look, I can't even touch you." She walks forward slowly, and Derek is ready to pounce. But when she gets close, she reaches out and her hand goes right through his arm.

Derek doesn't relax at all, but Paige backs away and he feels better.

"Why are you here?"

"I just wanted to say hi," she answers. "Besides, this is your dream, you brought me here. I missed you Derek. I haven't been in your dreams in a while."

Derek eyes the girl, still suspicious.

"Well if you're not going to talk to me, you might as well just go back to sleep and stop the dream," she tells him.

Before he can say anything, the door opens and in walks Erica.

She doesn't say a word, but her eyes are glued on Paige.

"What the hell is going on?" Derek asks no one in particular.

Erica doesn't look at him, but instead she stares at Paige, her eyes glossed over.

Isaac walks in a second later and freezes.

"Derek who is that?" he asks, jumping in front of Erica. "Erica is in her trance again, why is she in here? What is this?"

Suddenly, Paige smiles.

"Well, damn, I almost had you," she says, looking at Derek.

"Malum," he growls.

"In the flesh!" he gestures. "Well, in your dead girlfriend's flesh."

"What do you want?"

"Oh I was just going to play a little trick, I was feeling bored."

"Get out before I make you get out," Derek snarls at him.

The Root sighs, "Fine." He snaps his fingers and Erica's body shudders. Isaac turns to her and makes sure she's okay.

"What's going on? Why am I—"

"Your master is here, dear! Keep up!" Malum says to her, smiling. "I am glad I brought you back. You're so nice to look at. And unlike this pre-pubescent body you're turning out to be quite the lady, you can't even tell you were dead for a few weeks!"

Erica's face darkens, but she doesn't move from her spot.

"Leave, now!" Derek commands.

"As you wish." He replies. "But before I go, Erica, are you planning on attending the Halloween dance tomorrow? I would love that. If you decide to, save the last dance for me."

The Root winks and snaps his fingers, and Paige's body disappears.

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Scott walks over to the lunch table casually and sets his tray down, taking a seat beside Lydia who is absently eating an orange slice. The dark haired boy watches in silence as the rest of his group comes walking toward them – Isaac walking close behind Erica who looks uncomfortable.

"You'd think they've never seen a dead girl before," Erica jokes as she sits down across from Allison.

Isaac shakes his head as he sits beside the blonde, "That really isn't funny," he tells her, "and if you're going to be back here you need to cool it with the 'I was dead' stuff. We are in a public space with non-supernaturals, you know."

"Don't be such a sourwolf," Stiles says, "I thought it was funny."

Erica beams at him and grabs her bright red apple, sinking her teeth into it.

"So we're all going to be at the dance tonight, right?" Camilla asks the group, "Because I swear to God if I show up and I'm the only one of us there…"

"Maybe you and I can go together," Isaac suggests, locking eyes with the Argent girl, "we both have to be there anyway. Might as well."

Camilla narrows her gaze, "I'll let you know what I'm wearing in Econ," she replies.

Isaac nods and looks across the table at Lydia who is still eating the same orange slice, "What is it?" he asks her.

"I'm just thinking," she replies, "why is it that we're taking orders from Derek? Aren't you the alpha in this town, Scott?"

"Yeah," the boy answers, "but Derek's got more experience and while I may have the leadership capabilities, I still need time to learn the ropes. Every time Derek takes charge, I take notes."

"Sure, whatever. All I know is that I am going to look smoking hot tonight," her eyes wander over to where Jackson sits with Danny and Ethan, "there's no way in hell anybody is going to be able to turn me down."

As conversation moves along to costumes, Nolan comes walking over. It's Scott who is first to acknowledge him.

"What's up?" Scott asks.

Setting a book down on the lunch table, Nolan begins to speak, "I've been doing more research on The Root. Apparently it's not really anything – not a man or woman or god or anything, just a power – and it can't fully make contact with the living world."

"Then how does it carve symbols into people and resurrect others?" Allison asks.

"Well, he does most of his work through minions. He's obviously got someone going around and putting the triquetra into people and the resurrection part is just the magic of the symbol. Since he had to have someone carve it in to bring Erica back, I think he's got someone else on his side. Someone who's probably human, because due to the supernatural nature of… well… supernaturals, he can't fully get his talons into you, so you still have some control."

"Thanks dude," Scott says, "if you can find anything else…"

"Yeah, no problem," Nolan nods, collecting his book and beginning to walk away.

Stiles rolls his eyes, "Are you kidding me, is he freaking Yoda? Are we sending him back to Dagobah? Come and eat with us," he says to Nolan.

"Are you sure?" the boy asks.

"The more the merrier," Allison replies, as Nolan grabs a seat beside her, "so, what are you going to be for Halloween?"

\-------

Scott comes walking back into the main room of the clinic after cleaning out the cat cages as Deaton had asked. He slumps down in a chair beside the wall and waits until his boss comes into the room.

"All clear?" the vet asks.

Scott nods, "Yeah, I got it."

Deaton nods and grabs a folder from atop the desk across the room, "Well then that's all I needed."

"Before I go, I was wondering if you knew anything about something called um, Malum Radish..?"

Deaton turns around to face the young man, "You mean Malum Radix?"

Scott nods.

"That's what you brought back with you, isn't it?"

Again, the boy nods.

"All I know is that it's old and powerful… and trapped in the Other World," Deaton answers, "it's also the creator of the bad reputation of supernaturals."

"How do we send it back?" Scott asks.

"There's only two ways," Deaton begins, "and since it hasn't been in the world for thousands of years, there's no way to know if they work. You can either trick it into going back to its world or you can force it back."

"How do I force it back?"

"You'd have to do something along the lines of what you did to bring it here, but by doing that there's just as good a chance that you'll be letting any number of things into the world. And to trick it would be very complicated, you'd have to open a portal and try and get it to believe that it's doing harm for this world instead of good."

Scott sighs and puts his head into his hands, "And what about its bonds?"

"What about them?"

"The Root may or may not have sort of brought someone back…"

"Who?"

"Erica Reyes," Scott replies, "and we don't want her dead. So if the only way to break the bond is to kill her, we won't do that."

Deaton comes over to Scott and pulls a chair out so that he can sit beside his employee, "To break the bond you have to destroy whatever was used to resurrect her. I'm not sure what he used though."

"He carved this symbol into Allison's grandfather and that brought Erica back."

"Then you'll have to destroy Mr. Argent's body," Deaton tells him.

Scott looks at the man, "That's it?"

"Well, when The Root used Mr. Argent's body, he had to have a piece of Erica, so the spell would bring her specifically back. He could've used a picture, a lock of hair, a shirt she used to wear… And that has to be destroyed too. But most likely it will be left on Mr. Argent's body."

"But won't destroying the symbol destroy Erica?"

Deaton shakes his head, "The ritual has been completed. All destroying the symbol does is break any connection Erica would have with Malum Radix."

Scott nods, "So just destroy Gerard."

As the words begin to sink in Scott realizes it might be easier said than done.

\-------

Allison and Camilla walk into their apartment, their costume bags in hand.

"Dad? Chris?" Camilla calls out.

The two brothers walk in to the living room, and upon the sight of them, the girls burst out laughing.

"You know you don't have to dress up just to hand out candy, right?" Allison says, eyeing her father's Captain Jack Sparrow attire.

"We're not handing out candy. We actually have somewhere to go," Chris tells the girls.

"Oh, God," Camilla groans. "Please don't tell me you're chaperoning the school dance."

"While that seems like a splendid idea since you think being out with boys until midnight is okay, we are not chaperoning your dance," Ron tells his daughter. "But I did look into it, and who knows I might stop by later."

Camilla groans again.

"Well where are you going, then?" Allison questions.

"Just some singles party…" Chris mumbles.

Allison laughs, "Seriously?" She looks at Ron, who is sporting a Spartan costume.

"Yes. We're both single, and rather than worrying about what kind of trouble our daughters are getting into with werewolves, we're going to do something for ourselves," Ron answers.

Camilla's face goes white, "You… you know Isaac is a—"

"Werewolf? Yes dear," Ron says calmly. "Chris told me. And I was mad at first, but I know that he's not a bad guy. Yet. And if he is, I know how to take care of it." He smiles and winks at his daughter.

"Well you won't have to. He's a good guy, dad. And I've already intimidated him enough," Camilla says.

"That's my girl," Ron says, coming over to put his arm around her shoulders. "Well, we're heading out. Don't know when we'll be back. You two stay safe, and bring some weapons. Your curfew is 11."

The four say their goodbyes and the men leave.

"Well that was weird," Allison says.

"Damn straight," Camilla replies.

\-------

Scott pulls up to the front of Allison's building in his Superman costume. He feels ridiculous, but what else can he do? If he were to go to the dance without a costume then he was sure to stand out. As he waits in his car for Allison to come out, he looks at the clock. 7:33, the dance would already be in full swing by the time they arrived.

Without noticing it, Scott is greeted by a cold rush of wind when Allison opens the door. He stares at her as she sits down in the passenger seat and puts her seatbelt on.

"Yes," she says flatly, "I'm Little Red Riding Hood and before you say anything it's the only costume I could find. The store was pretty wiped out and I wasn't about to be a Sexy Grandma or something."

Scott smiles crookedly, "You look beautiful."

Allison can feel herself blush as she takes in Scott's outfit, "Superman, huh? It's fitting."

It's the boy's turn to blush as he puts the car in gear and the two take off down the street to pick up Stiles. He takes a left on Columbus Street and then says, "What do you think The Root is going to do tonight?"

"I'm more worried about whose coming back next," Allison replies, fiddling with the strings of her red cape, "I never thought I'd be glad that my mother was cremated."

Scott nods, "That's true. I mean Erica's one thing but what if it's someone not good. Like Miss Blake or Matt? Then we'd be in real trouble."

"No kidding," the girl stops speaking and stares out the window once they reach Stiles' and the boy comes walking toward the car, "Oh my god!" she laughs.

Stiles gets into the backseat and smiles up at Scott who is staring back at him through the rearview mirror.

"What?" Stiles asks, "Don't you like my costume?"

"A Werewolf?" Scott asks, looking at the ridiculous hairy chest his friend has on, "Seriously?"

"I thought it would be funny!" he protests, "Don't be a poor sport Scott, I might have to pee on your sho-oo-oooe!" he fake-howls.

Scott rolls his eyes and then drives his friends to the school, ignoring all the jokes Stiles makes to Allison, of which there is many, and mostly have to do with leg-humping. As they get to the high school, Allison is the first to speak.

"I'm packing," she says, opening the basket on her lap to show a small crossbow and several arrows, "just in case Malum sends something big and bad."

They then get out of the car, one after the other. Stiles hurries inside – paying the two dollar fee at the door – and shortly after spots Lydia, sitting in a chair by the bleachers with a blonde wig and a white dress on.

He smiles at her and heads over.

"You look gr-" he begins but is cut off.

"I show up here," she says, "looking fan-freaking-tastic, and Jackson completely ignores me. We've both been here over twenty minutes, he saw me walk in and yet he's just over there hanging out with Danny. Like what is his deal?"

Stiles looks over and sees Jackson dressed up like Elvis – wig, jumpsuit, cape and all.

"He is the King," Stiles jokes.

"Oh god isn't that funny," Lydia retorts, "this night is already crappy."

Stiles sits down then and looks the girl in the eye, "Are you serious? Lydia is this some kind of sick joke?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" she questions.

"What am I..? You kissed me! You, Lydia Martin the girl I've been in love with since third grade, kissed me. You freaking put your mouth on my mouth – there were mouth noises even – and now you're all caught up on Jackson again?" Stiles spits out, "I get it, he was your first love and blah-blah-barf, but you were with Aiden and kissing on me and now that one of the Wonder Twins is gone, I thought maybe you and I would..."

Lydia scoffs, "You've certainly been friendly with Allison's cousin. Don't try and act like I'm some sort of one-kiss kind of girl, I'd gladly kiss you again, but since you're falling for sweet, innocent, hunter gal, I thought I could snag Jackson again. Maybe then I could get you to act somewhat interested."

"You were trying to get Jackson back to..?"

"What make you jealous?" Lydia finishes, sighing heavily, "That may have been part of it."

Stiles smiles at her, "You do realize that I've only got eyes for you right? Camilla is pretty, sure, but I've been in love with you since you told me I was a 'gross boy' in Mrs. Strauss' third grade class."

"Well you put mayonnaise on your PB&J, that's disgusting," Lydia chuckles.

"The PBJM is the master of all sandwiches," Stiles retorts, "don't knock it 'til you try it."

"I will never do that," she says back.

Stiles rolls his eyes, "Can I get you some punch at least?"

Lydia nods her wigged head and as the boy gets up she says, "You make a good werewolf, Stiles."

\-------

A short while later, Isaac and Camilla walk into the dance, hand in hand. Isaac shows of his muscles in his Hercules costume, and every one of Camilla's curves is highlighted in her Megara costume.

"Aw, Hercules and Meg!" gushes a freshman to the pair. "You guys are super cute!"

The two smile and make their way over to the table where Allison, Scott, Stiles, and Lydia sit.

"We do look pretty cute," Isaac whispers into Camilla's ear, making her giggle.

"Normally I would be okay with you two flirting like you've just been shot with Cupid's arrow, but tonight, not so much," Lydia snaps when they reach the table.

"Ouch," Camilla says. "Why so angry, Marilyn?"

"She's mad because Jackson hasn't said one word to her," Allison tells her cousin.

"What you mean the gay guy? Why would you want his attention?" Camilla asks, looking over at where the boy stands.

"What do you mean gay?" Lydia demands, her face extremely puzzled. "He's dancing with a girl."

"Yeah, but where are his eyes?" Camilla asks, causing the group to notice that Jackson is staring at Danny's butt. "And his body language screams that he does not want to be dancing with that girl."

Everyone is silent as they realize her words are true.

"I mean, maybe I'm just making things up, but I always thought he was gay. Sorry."

Isaac shakes his head and turns his attention back to Camilla, "Well speaking of dancing, would you like to join me on the dance floor?"

"Of course," she replies. He grabs her hand once again and the two make their way towards the DJ.

The four sit at the table, not saying a word.

Lydia's eyes are open wide as she thinks about what Camilla said.

\-------

"You don't need to go in," Erica says to Derek. "You can just make sure I'm with Isaac and leave. You're not even dressed up."

"No, I'm staying. The Root basically threatened you, so I need to be here. I told you I'm not letting anything happen to you, and I mean it." Derek doesn't look at Erica, which frustrates her.

They get up to the door of the dance, and Derek pays for the both of them.

Inside, the dance is full of costumes. Derek had decided earlier to just come as himself, clad in a motorcycle jacket and jeans. Erica was a sexy vampire.

"There's Isaac and Camilla," Erica says, pointing out the couple on the dance floor. She starts to make her way over to them, but Derek stops her.

"No way. You're not leaving my side."

"Seriously? I can't even dance at a dance?"

"Not if it means you not being by me," he answers her in a serious tone.

"Well why don't you go dance then? You'll be right by me the whole time, and we can both have some fun," Erica tries to persuade him.

"Dancing isn't my thing," he answers.

Erica rolls her eyes, "Great, the first high school dance I attend where I actually look hot and I can't even dance."

Derek doesn't answer, but makes his way to the refreshments table.

Erica stands behind him with her arms crossed and waits for him.

"Would you like some punch?" asks a pretty blonde serving the drinks.

"From you, of course," he flirts.

Erica scowls and makes her way over to the table, angry.

"Hey babe, will you get me some punch too?" she asks, wrapping her arms around one of his biceps and eyeing the blonde woman.

Derek tenses up, but doesn't react, knowing he can't cause a scene.

"Can you believe he wouldn't dress up?" Erica asks the blonde with fake surprise. "At least he sort of looks like a cute biker."

The woman nods and serves them their punch.

"Thanks so much!" Erica exclaims insincerely.

When they walk away, Erica pulls away from Derek and smiles at herself.

"What the hell was that?" he growls.

"Well, I know what happened the last time you flirted with our school staff, so I was stopping history from repeating," she says slyly.

Derek rolls his eyes and sits down at a table.

"And since you aren't letting me dance, I figured I might as well have a little fun while I could," Erica adds, sipping her drink.

Derek's face is creased with anger, but on the inside, he is a bit amused.

After a few minutes, Derek speaks up.

"A cute biker, huh?"

Erica laughs, "Don't flatter yourself, I was just trying to make conversation with her to make her feel uncomfortable."

"Uh huh," he says, a hint of a smile on his face.

"So what's the point of us being here if we're just going to sit here?" Erica asks, biting off a cherry from her punch and chewing it.

"Well, The Root said to save the last dance for him, so I figure that means he'll be here. So we need to keep an eye on things. And you need to be here since he has some weird obsession with you."

This angers Erica, and she exclaims, "So I'm basically bait for this thing?"

"Well I don't see why he would come unless you were here…"

"Seriously, Derek? That Nolan kid says I'm basically his slave, so what if he makes me do something crazy? You said you were watching out for me!"

"I am—"

"No you're not!" she interrupts. "Bringing me in public when you know Malum is going to be here? Real smart, Derek. Oh, and not to mention, great for my safety."

Erica stands up and pulls a tied cherry stem out of her mouth before saying, "I'm getting more punch from your girlfriend."

Derek sighs loudly and stands up to follow her.

"I don't need a babysitter," she says to him over her shoulder.

"The hell you don't," Derek mutters under his breath. He begins to go after her when a kid dressed up as a prince runs into him and nearly spills his punch on Derek.

"Woah, sorry dude. I almost ruined your biker costume," the kid says.

"Get out of my way, Prince Charming," Derek replies. When he looks up to find Erica, he spots her talking to a guy in a knight costume.

He starts to walk over to her, but when he does, he notices Erica nod and take the knight's arm. He begins to lead Erica to the dance floor.

"Are you kidding me?" Derek roars, causing a few people to look over.

He tries to follow her and make her leave, but he loses her in the crowd of people.

He spots her a few minutes later, towards the end of the song. He catches her eye and makes a gesture that tells her she needs to come to him, now.

She holds up her index finger, signaling she will in a little bit.

Derek rolls his eyes and crosses his arms, waiting for her to finish.

He starts to go over what he is going to yell at her when she gets done, and he keeps his eyes on her the whole time.

He gets distracted while watching her, and he loses his train of thought. Her body moves perfectly to the music, and Derek can't help but stare.

She moves fluidly, and her costume shows off her body, making it better to watch.

She notices his eyes glued on her, and she locks eyes with him. Her body moves seductively on her dance partner, but her eyes tell Derek she does it for him.

Thoughts of their kiss play through his head, and suddenly, all he wants is to do it again. He wants to be the one dancing with her, holding her body as she moves.

The song ends, and Erica's eyes leave Derek's so she can talk to the guy she was dancing with.

Derek watches carefully.

The knight nods and gives her a hug, but before Erica can leave, he takes off his helmet and reveals himself to her.

Her eyes go wide and Derek's do too as he looks upon the boy.

Boyd.

He smiles at Erica and bows down to kiss her hand.

\-------

Derek storms through the bodies, pushing them out of the way, trying to make it to Erica. He loses her several times, but eventually he gets to her.

Boyd is nowhere to be seen.

"Where did he go?" Derek growls, ready to attack.

"I don't know, he just disappeared," Erica stammers.

"Was it really him? Or was it The Root?" Derek asks her, still looking around.

"It was him. I could feel it. He… he told me that Malum brought him back," Erica gulps. "He said that he wishes I would join them, that way Malum wouldn't have to control me anymore."

"Is Malum here?" Derek asks, turning to face Erica. When he looks at her, he sees the fear in her eyes.

"Hey," he says, putting his hands on her shoulders, making her look up at him. "You're ok now. I'm here, and I'm pretty sure he's gone."

"But Boyd was normal," Erica says, worriedly. "He wasn't in a trance or anything. He was fully aware of himself. But he still wanted to help Malum. Why would he do that?"

"I don't know, but you need to calm down," Derek tells the blonde, who was slightly shaking.

She doesn't answer and looks away.

Derek, not knowing what to do says, "Erica. Stay with me. Calm down."

Erica shakes her head, frightened, "What if that happens to me? What if he can make me want to help him?"

"Erica!" Derek yells loud enough for a few people to look over. "Stop worrying. I will never, ever let that happen. You're with me now, and you never will be anywhere else, okay?"

Erica looks up at him, not entirely convinced.

"We're safe here. Let's just dance and calm down, okay? Then we'll find Scott and everyone else and figure it out." Derek says.

After a beat, Erica nods and leans into Derek, placing her arms around him.

Derek listens to her heart pound and moves to the slow music, trying to get her to relax.

Erica leans her head in, not even thinking about it, and rests it on Derek. She closes her eyes, and breathes in his familiar scent.

"You'll always be safe with me," Derek whispers into her ear.

\-------

Jackson dances away from Danny and Ethan, who are locked in each other's arms, dancing to the slow song playing.

He walks over to a table and sits down as two girls get up and walk away from it. He pays no attention to that though and turns behind him to see if anyone else is there, when he sees a boy in light blue scrubs smile at him.

"Dr. Nolan," Jackson smiles, producing a bottle from inside of his jumpsuit, "care for a sip?"

"Elvis, Elvis let me be," Nolan grins, "keep that vodka far from me."

Jackson chuckles and sets the bottle on the table, "You're a Grease fan?"

"It was the first movie I ever saw," Nolan replies, "I'm surprised you know it. Aren't lacrosse players – or any athlete for that matter – supposed to only be in to movies with fast cars and fast women?"

"That sounds weird coming from you," Jackson says, "but I am a fan. Try not to stereotype your friends, for future reference. I mean, McCall may be a werewolf but that doesn't mean he likes to go after constipated chicks."

"A dig at Twilight? Are you trying to get me to fall for you?"

Jackson raises an eyebrow, "Is it working?"

Nolan blushes in reply.

"So how come I haven't seen you dancing?"

Nolan sighs, "I may have spearheaded the dance committee, but doesn't mean I get to shake my groove thing."

"Are you not supposed to?" the light brown haired boy asks casually.

"It's not that, it's just…"

"Then do you wanna dance?" Jackson asks, just as I Only Have Eyes for You starts to play.

Nolan looks into Jackson's gray-blue eyes, "It's a slow song."

"So?" is Jackson's only remark.

Just as Nolan is about to reply, Isaac comes storming up to the pair, "Have either of you seen Camilla?"

Jackson shakes his head no and Nolan says, "Not since I watched her spike the punch, which she didn't do very conspicuously."

"I can't find her," Isaac says, "Jackson what if The Root—"

Jackson nods and looks at Nolan, "I'm sorry about this."

"It's fine," Nolan says, "I should go talk to the DJ, tell him the next song needs to be the last. If I see Camilla I'll let her know you're looking for her."

Isaac nods and tells Jackson to ask Scott if he's seen her as the Hercules-dressed boy runs up to Allison.

The red hooded girl smiles at Isaac as he approaches, "That really is a great costume," she says.

"I can't find Camilla," he says worriedly, "I went to go get us punch and when I came back she was gone. Allison what if she's…"

"Have you tried her cell?" Allison asks.

"Of course and I didn't get an answer."

Allison grabs Isaac's hand and pulls him over to where Lydia and Stiles dance ever so slowly. The brunette yanks Stiles away from Lydia and asks quickly, "Have you seen my cousin?"

Both kids shake their head no.

"Alright kids," the DJ says as the song comes to a close, "This is our last song, and it comes with a message to the Pack from Boyd, 'See you soon!'"

It is then that Die Young by Ke$ha starts to play loudly throughout the gym.

\-------

Across the room, Erica tenses up. Derek's eyes widen.

Before either of them can say a word, Jackson rushes up to them.

"Have either of you seen Camilla?"

"Jackson, did you not just hear this announcement? We've got other things to worry about," Derek tells him.

"Derek, she's missing. Don't you think that's a bit weird? We get this message from Boyd and our new friend just decide to disappear? I don't think it's a coincidence."

Derek sighs and says, "Fine. Find everyone and tell them to meet in the parking lot. Now."

Jackson nods and takes off to deliver the message.

"You okay?" Derek asks Erica, who nods unconvincingly.

"I won't leave your side, I promise," Derek tells her, looking deeply into her eyes. He grabs her hand and pulls her gently off the dance floor. "Let's go find out what's going on."

The two make it outside into the cool night and wait for the others to arrive.

Isaac is the first to get there, and he looks curiously at the two, who are still holding hands. They quickly let go, and Isaac brushes it off, more preoccupied with finding Camilla.

When everyone gets there Derek is the first to speak.

"Boyd is back. He told Erica that Malum brought him back, so we think that he's the one the little girl was sacrificed for."

"So he's the other slave?" Stiles asks.

"Well, kind of. He also told Erica that he's on Malum's side, and he seemed normal. So we think The Root did something to control him without having to put him in a trance."

"I thought he couldn't fully control supernatural beings?" Scott asks.

"That's why we're confused," Derek tells him.

Jogging up to the group Jackson says, "Nolan's missing too."

"I think Boyd took Camilla. And probably Nolan, too," Isaac tells the group.

"Are you sure Nolan didn't just leave, Jackson?" Derek asks. "He's not exactly a friend of the pack like Camilla is."

Lydia snorts, causing everyone to look at her.

Jackson rolls his eyes and says, "So what? He's been supplying information to us about The Root. Just because no one is dating him doesn't mean he isn't worth anything to us."

"He's right," Scott says. "We need to find them."

"Fine, but where do we start looking?" Derek asks.

"Well, The Root was at the Hale house last time, so we might as well start there," Scott answers.

"Okay. Everyone get in a car and head there. No one goes in until we're all there and have a plan worked out," Derek commands.

Everyone heads for a car and Derek and Erica are left alone, heading towards Derek's Camaro.

"Are you okay with going there?" Derek asks her quietly.

"I'll be fine," Erica answers.

"No you won't."

Erica sighs, "Well I don't really have a choice, do I?"

Derek takes her hand again, "Like I said before, I won't leave your side."

\-------

When the group arrives, they hatch a plan to all enter the house at the same time.

"Nobody goes anywhere without someone else, okay? And if you see or hear anything, call for help," Derek tells everyone.

When everyone agrees, they head up the stairs.

Almost immediately, they hear a female's voice cursing loudly at someone.

"That's Camilla," Allison says.

"That's definitely Camilla," Isaac agrees, stepping forward and charging into the house.

The large group follows Camilla's voice to the basement.

There she sits tied up and fuming.

"You bastard! I swear to God I will kill your Root of Evil shitass! You fu—"

She stops yelling when she hears everyone coming.

Isaac rushes over to her, shaking from relief, "Thank God! What did he do to you? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she answers. "That piece of shit has another minion though. I'm pretty sure it's that hulking black guy that Huckleberry Finn runs away with."

"That's Boyd," Allison tells her, making her way over to her cousin. Allison bends over and begins working to cut the tight rope binding her.

"Makes sense. Yeah, I was waiting for Isaac to come back and then all of a sudden this guy grabs me and the next thing I know I'm here. Oh, and Nolan is over there in the den, I think. He's still knocked out I think." She nods her head in the direction of a dark room.

Jackson, Scott, and Stiles head that way to retrieve the boy.

"Where did The Root go?" Derek asks.

"I don't know, I never saw him. I've just been yelling at the shithead to try and get him down here."

Allison cuts the last rope and Camilla is released. She pulls her arms forward and everyone can see her wrists are bleeding from being bound.

Isaac grabs her and helps her stand up, "Do you need to go to the hospital?" His eyes stay on her, worried. He doesn't let her go.

"No, I'll be fine. I just want to get the hell out of here," she tells him. "Thanks for saving me, Hercules." She leans over and kisses Isaac.

"Well, if you guys want to keep making out, go right ahead, but I'm leaving before anything else happens," Lydia says. "Stiles! Let's go!"

The three boys appear from the room, a delirious-looking Nolan leaning on Scott and Jackson for support.

"No more time to talk," Derek tells everyone. "Let's get out of here and meet up at the loft. Then we can figure everything out."

Everyone starts to make their way to the stairs, when they hear footsteps making their way down. The wolves all go into alert, and Allison pulls out her bow.

"Why hello everyone!" Paige's voice says, when she appears at the foot of the stairs. "Nice that everyone came out to my party!"

"Malum, what do you want?" Scott asks angrily.

"My my Scott, you sure are feisty. I just wanted to see everyone's costumes! I decided not to go to the dance, I figured I might as well just have an after party here!"

"What did you do to Boyd?" Derek asks.

"Oh not much. I just brought him back, I thought you guys would be happy! You liked it when I brought blondie back."

Nobody answers, so The Root speaks again.

"Anyways, he is a lot easier to control than Erica. He really helped out with getting the whole gang here tonight."

"We're here, now let us go," Scott says with his teeth clenched.

"Ah, ah, ah, not so fast," he replies. Everyone watches as he snaps his fingers and says, "Let's get this party started, shall we?"

\-------


	6. Dreamworld (3x18)

Boyd stares at the group lying on the charred floor of the Hale house, his brows draw together as he asks, "What exactly did you do to them?"

The Root, still disguised as Paige, looks up at the boy, "I just put them down for little nap. Most of them probably needed it anyway, running around on all fours all night has got to make you tired."

Boyd shifts nervously and takes off the remaining piece of his knight costume, letting the metal piece fall to the floor with a crash.

"Boyd, relax, your friends are going to be just fine… in theory."

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Slowly and somewhat painfully, Erica's eyes flutter open. As she peers around, she's unsure of where she is, but knows that it isn't the somewhat-familiar Hale house. She runs a hand through her long blonde hair and sits up, realizing that she is on a bed.

She turns her head to the left and sees Derek standing in robes, talking to some woman with black hair. Anger pulses through her body as she gets off of the bed and rushes over to him, prepared to slap him… but why? She wonders, why am I so pissed off? It's not like he's my boyfriend.

Derek waves the woman off, and she bows before she leaves.

"My darling Hera!" Derek bellows as he wraps Erica in a hug, "How was your slumber, my wife?"

"Hera? Wife? Derek, what are you talking about?" the girl questions.

"Derek? Who is this Derek you speak of?" he asks.

She rolls her eyes, "Don't bullshit me, Derek. What's going on?"

He stares at her worriedly, "Hera, my love, are you ill?"

"Derek, my name isn't Hera it's…" but before she could finish, Stiles comes flying toward the pair, his face contorted with sorrow.

"Zeus," the boy says once he lands. "I come with tragic news."

"What is it Hermes?" Derek asks Stiles.

Stiles shakes his head, "I think it would be best if you come see for yourself. My telling you won't simply be enough proof."

Hesitantly, Derek nods. He grabs Erica's hand, and the three of them begin to head across the open, cloudy place. Erica feels light in a way she's never felt, and looking down she sees herself dressed in a long, beautiful gown.

The group stops once they reach a tall door with intricate carvings.

"Why have we stopped at Athena's room?" Derek questions.

Stiles turns to face Derek and Erica and says, "I thought it best to keep this quiet until given orders by you." They enter the room, and Erica sees a woman lying still on a bed, her face is covered by her hair.

"Why are you showing me this?" Derek asks.

"Zeus…I'm afraid Athena is no longer with us," Stiles says sadly.

"What do you mean?" Derek says, a bit angry. "She is right there!"

"She's dead, Zeus," Stiles tells him quietly.

Erica takes a closer look and recognizes the girl on the bed.

"Oh my god!" Erica shrieks, "That's Lydia!"

"Who is this Lydia, you speak of, Hera?" Stiles questions.

"She's under some sort of fever I believe, Hermes," Derek tells Stiles. "But what's more important now is what happened. Have you any idea?"

"No, sir," Stiles replies, "I haven't any idea. But it doesn't make sense… how can she be dead? We're gods, we're immortal! We can't die, it's simply impossible!"

"So we're gods… This is a dream and we're gods," Erica whispers to herself, then louder she says, "Okay, uh, Zeus? What's going on?"

Derek turns slightly to look at the blonde, "It appears as though there may be a murderer among us, my beloved."

\-------

Erica makes her way down the unfamiliar pathways, wandering around.

"Hera, my dear," says Derek's voice from behind her. "You disappeared so quickly earlier. I was worried about you, although my thoughts were consumed with confusion about Athena's death. Come, love, it is time to feast."

Erica smiles uneasily and takes Derek's hand, letting him guide her.

Soon, they come upon a lofty area. Erica looks up and can see a dark sky full of stars. The floor she walks on looks like clouds.

All around the room are golden thrones, most of them occupied by people Erica knows. A few are empty, and two are filled by people Erica doesn't know.

"When will this freaking dream end?" she mutters under her breath.

Derek guides her to a throne next to Isaac, who she had learned was Ares in this dream. Derek sits next to her, and beside him sits Scott, also known as Poseidon.

Erica looks around her dream land in amazement. Everything looks heavenly, as it should, since it was supposed to be Mount Olympus. Even the people were dressed to part. Everyone was head to toe in beautiful robes and gowns, most of which showed off a lot of skin. A few of the guys were even shirtless.

A beautiful servant places a strange liquid in front of her and quickly leaves. Erica notices other servants have done the same for everyone else.

"Everyone feast now, we have much to discuss," Derek commands.

The group obeys and begins their consumption of the strange… meal?

Erica does her best to mimic those around her by gracefully feeding on what was in front of her.

"Aren't you famished, Hera? You've been lacking in appetite lately, I assumed it would be back by now, but you're barely touching your ambrosia and nectar!" Derek exclaims, obviously caring for her unwillingness to eat.

Ah, that's what this crap is, Erica thinks to herself.

"Um, I'm just feeling a little down is all, Zeus," she replies.

"Perhaps you are with child again," Derek says with a seductive smile. Erica can't help but wish she could see that smile from the real Derek.

The feast goes on for a bit before someone asks where Hermes is.

Derek frowns, "I presumed he was still mourning Athena's untimely demise, but I suppose his absence is peculiar."

Before anyone can elaborate, a woman rushes into the room wailing. In her arms, Stiles lies limp.

"Peitho! What is this madness?" Derek roars, standing up suddenly.

"I found him near the gardens," she cries. "This is impossible! Gods don't die! Hermes can't be dead!"

Derek slams his fist on his thrown, and a crash of lighting is seen.

"What impossible thing is the cause of these deaths? Something unnatural is killing my gods, and I will not rest until I discover who or what it is!"

All around Erica, chaos ensues. Gods and goddesses wail and mourn the second death. Some are rushing around, not sure of what to do.

Derek begins commanding the lesser gods to call upon Hades, convinced the lord of the dead has something to do with the recent tragedies.

Erica sits in her throne, unsure of what she can do. _Why can't I just wake up?_ she asks herself. _I know I'm dreaming, hello, brain._

She looks around again and notices Camilla, Aphrodite in the dream world, is looking at Isaac. Near her, her husband, Jackson, who Erica learned is Hephaestus, stands, awaiting commands from Derek. Isaac is oblivious to Camilla's gaze, too preoccupied with the commotion.

Erica's brow furrows as she identifies the look of love and longing in Aphrodite's face.

 _If she wants to be with him, why doesn't she? From what I know of Greek mythology, Aphrodite is a bit of a whore. Sorry, Camilla_.

Erica begins to turn away when Isaac suddenly looks back at Camilla and smiles a sad smile. She can see the same look of desperation in his eyes.

 _Damn, not only do they belong together in the real world, but they do in freaking goddess world too_ , Erica says to herself, admiring the consistency.

Derek walks up to her and places his hand on her cheek, "My love, I must go assist the others in preparations for more protection. I want you to stay safe, so go to our bedroom quarters and await my arrival. Be safe."

When he finishes talking, he bends down and passionately kisses her. Their mouths don't part for over a minute, and heat flashes through Erica's body. When they pull apart, Erica craves more, but Derek smiles at her one last time and turns away.

 _Holy shit, I need to wake up_.

\-------

Later on, Erica is wanders around Mount Olympus. Derek told her to go to their room, but she has no idea where that is, or how to get there.

She comes upon a beautiful area full of ponds with shimmering blue water. Near one of the ponds, Camilla sits, combing her hair.

"Hera," she says with a smile when she notices the blonde girl. "I didn't hear you approach."

Erica smiles back and sits on the opposite side of the bench that Camilla occupies.

"How are you, Aphrodite?" Erica asks, deciding to play along.

The girl sighs and says, "I'm alright. I feel terrible about the deaths. I don't understand how immortals are dying… But I'm trying to keep my mind off of that… And other things." She sighs again.

"I know," Erica tells her. "I saw you and Ares earlier. It's obvious you like each other."

Camilla's eyes open wide, but she smiles, "You saw that?" She laughs a sultry laugh.

"It was hard not to, you were practically undressing each other in your minds."

"If only. Hephaestus would be enraged if he found out I was admiring his brother," she tells Erica with sadness in her voice.

"So what?" Erica says. "It's not like he can really do anything. If you love someone and they love you, there shouldn't be any reason you should be apart." As Erica says these words, she thinks about her life with Derek, but brushes it aside.

Camilla thinks for a moment before she speaks, "You're right. With gods dying, now is the best time to do what I want. I shouldn't be unhappy. If we all won't live forever, we need to live our lives happy."

Erica smiles and agrees.

Camilla stands up and starts to leave, but before she goes she tells Erica, "Thank you, Hera. I never would've done this without your guidance. But I already feel happier."

"Go, girl. Be with your man," Erica says, shooing her playfully with her hand.

A while later, in another room, Derek paces back and forth, waiting for some news.

"Hades will be here soon," says a servant, delivering the message.

Derek sighs and waves him off. He is beginning to plan what to do with his brother when Jackson walks in.

"Have you seen Aphrodite?" the god asks.

"I haven't since dinner," Derek tells him. "Why, is something the matter?"

"No, I just can't seem to find her," Jackson replies.

Before Derek can reply, Erica walks in. She almost laughs when she sees Derek and Jackson actually acting civil, rather than insulting each other every two seconds.

"Ah, Hera, my beautiful wife," Derek says, wrapping his arms around her when she nears him. "Have you seen Aphrodite lately? Hephaestus was looking for her."

"Yeah, I just saw her about ten minutes ago. She was looking for Ares."

An annoyed look crosses over Jackson's face, "Of course she was."

Erica holds in another laugh and has to avert her eyes.

"Thank you Zeus… Hera," Jackson says nodding thanks to both of them.

He leaves the room and starts to make his way around Mount Olympus.

"Aphrodite!" he calls out, angry.

This isn't the first time he's caught his wife drooling over the god of war.

Nobody answers, so Jackson keeps searching. He eventually comes to Ares's room and enters without knocking.

In the bed is Isaac, with Camilla next to him. Shock rushes through Jackson's body, but not because they are in bed together, but because they are both dead.

\-------

"Was it you?" Erica hears Jackson ask later that night after Hades… Nolan… arrived.

"I know you all like to paint me as the villain," Nolan replies sourly, "but truthfully, Hephaestus, I had nothing to do with any murder."

"Are you willing to admit that to Zeus?"

"I'll admit it to anyone you'd like."

Just then Derek enters the room, noting absently that Erica is present, "Hades," the man says with a thunderous voice, "are you aware of what's been going on?"

"Yes, Zeus, I am," Nolan replies. "News travels fast, even to the underworld. But I can most assure you that I've had nothing to do with these murders. Although I'd like to shake the hand of whoever did it, I've got a whole mess of new souls to play with."

"And how can we know you don't lie?"

Nolan scoffs, "Ask the Fates if you must. I haven't any control over who lives or dies, and frankly I find it hard to believe any of us are dead. We're immortals, we cannot die."

"Someone's learned of a way," Jackson says, "they killed my beloved."

"Your beloved never loved you," Nolan replies, "word is that she fancied Ares. Save your sorrow for someone else."

Jackson looks away from Nolan, but Erica notices that Jackson looks almost as though he agrees. It's then that Jackson leaves the room, the door slamming shut behind him, leaving Derek, Erica, and Nolan alone in the room.

"I need answers," Derek shouts.

Nolan rolls his eyes, "I don't know what to tell you, Zeus. I only know what I hear, and what I hear is that gods are dying. I can only assume the person committing the crime is someone of permanent residence on Mount Olympus."

"Nol—" Erica begins to say before she catches herself, "Hades has a point. When he arrived he made quite the entrance, wouldn't that be hard to ignore if he were coming up here at intervals to kill us?"

Nolan agrees. "You know I'm not one for being subtle."

It's then that there's a loud knock on the door, and in walks Allison - Artemis - with a bow strapped tightly against her back. Her face is consumed with sadness, and tears are streaming down her face.

"Artemis," Nolan smiles, "how good it is to see you."

Ignoring Nolan's comment, Allison looks up at Derek and says breathlessly, "Zeus, someone else has been killed."

"Who?" Derek asks coldly.

"Hephaestus," Allison replies, "his head has been completely removed."

"He was here but not seconds ago!" Derek protests.

"And his head lies just outside the door!" Allison says sorrowfully.

"I suppose this means I'm in the clear?" Nolan asks.

"Hades," Derek says locking eyes with the boy, "what is going on?"

Nolan shakes his head, "I don't know, but it isn't good. Whatever this murderer is it's powerful."

"We must do something to ensure the remaining few safety," Allison adds quickly.

All is quiet when suddenly there's a huge burst of lightening followed by a ground-shaking bout of thunder as Derek yells from frustration.

\-------

Erica lays awake in her bed. Well, Hera's bed. She eventually had someone lead her there when she realized her dream wasn't going to be over anytime soon.

The silk sheets feel amazing against her skin, and her dress is surprisingly comfortable. She almost feels like a real goddess.

Maybe if I fall asleep, I'll wake up in real life, she thinks to herself.

Her eyes begin to flutter shut and her breathing slows. A minute later, the door to her room slams open, and a frantic-looking Derek storms in.

"Hera! We must go now! Poseidon is dead. Almost everyone is dead. Nowhere is safe anymore!" he roars. He pulls her from the bed, gently but forcibly.

Erica's mouth opens in shock.

"We must go," he says urgently as he leads her out of the room in a hurry.

"Where are we going?" she asks him, struggling to move her feet fast enough.

"Somewhere with the most protection. Where we keep our prisoners," he responds in a determined voice.

The two go around several corners and make their way through many paths. Eventually, they reach a door guarded by an unfamiliar man. When he spots Derek, he nods his head and allows the two access to the room.

"Hades is in here, we had no choice but to keep him in Mount Olympus for the time being," Zeus says with sorrow in his tone.

"What are we going to do? Just wait until the killer finds us?" Erica asks, her heart pounding.

"No, my love. We are going to gather the rest of our people and flee. But first, we must assure everyone still alive is within our ranks," he answers her. He leads her through a dark room where more men stand guard.

Erica can't see much, but as she gets further back into the room she sees cells. She can't tell if they are occupied or not due to the dim lighting. The whole room looks like it was from a movie.

Near a cell, Nolan sits very still. As they get closer, the god looks unconscious.

"Zeus, what is wrong with Hades?" Erica asks.

Derek turns his attention to the body sitting on the ground in the cell. His eyes go wide and he lets go of Erica's hand. Derek rushes to Nolan's side.

"Hades," he calls, shaking the god. "HADES!"

The auburn boy doesn't respond, but his head lulls to the side.

"How is this possible?" Derek yells. He leaves the cell and goes up to one of the guards.

"Who was in here? Who visited Hades? Who did this?" The anger is prominent in Derek's voice, making the guard tremble.

"It was only us, Almighty One. Well, and Artemis came earlier, under your command," he answers in a shaky voice.

"Artemis? I did not command her entrance into this room, what are you talking about?" his voice booms, filling the quiet room. Erica wonders why Allison was in the room.

"Sh-she came here and said you demanded she visit Hades. She was only here a moment… I didn't…" the guard shakes in fear.

"Artemis…" Derek says quietly, thinking. "Why would she do this? How is it possible?"

Before another word is spoken, the door to the room bursts open, and the goddess walks in with a smile on her face and a weapon in her hand.

The guards jump on her within seconds, but the goddess is too quick and strong. Within minutes, Derek and Erica are left with no protection. Derek leaps in front of Erica, protecting her.

Well, shit, Allison, Erica says in her mind.

"Artemis, has it been you this whole time? Destroying your own people?" Derek cries in disbelief.

"Congratulations, Zeus. You figured it out. I thought it would take you longer," she says with a snarky smile on her face. She walks forward until she is only mere feet before the two.

"Why? Why do this?" Derek asks.

Allison shrugs, "Because I could."

In a flash, she is upon Derek, who jumps to block Erica. The two battle, but Allison gains the opportunity to strike, and she takes it.

Derek's face fills with shock, and he looks down at the sword protruding from his center.

"H-how?" he whispers painfully, sinking to his knees.

"A little poison I whipped up. It turns gods into mortals. Took me a lot of sacrifice, but I think it was worth it," she tells him proudly and points to the sword. "I just dipped this baby into the final product and wa-la. A perfect weapon to kill gods."

She lifts her foot and places it on Derek's chest, and with her hands wrapped around the sword's handle, she pulls it from his abdomen.

The weak god crumples to the floor, life slipping from his grasp.

"Please," he begs with his last breath. "Spare Hera."

Derek's eyes find Erica's, and pure love and fear reflect in them.

Erica had been standing still the whole time, too shocked to move.

Allison turns her attention to the blonde and smiles.

Derek's eyes close right as the brunette goddess starts toward Erica.

"Goodbye, Queen Hera," Allison snarls as she lifts her weapon and slams it into Erica's heart.

Erica chokes on a scream and falls to the floor, the sword still stuck in her.

The last thing she sees is Allison's evil smile.

When Erica's eyes close, Allison pulls her sword out again.

Proud of her work, she leaves the room to find more gods to kill.

She makes it to a room full of mirrors.

"This must be Narcissus' room," she snorts.

She walks up to a mirror and admires her reflection.

Suddenly, her whole body shudders, and she nearly falls to the floor. When she stands upright and looks in the mirror again, her eyes widen.

"What have I done?" she whimpers. Allison replays all of the deaths in her head, unable to believe she committed the crimes. Disbelief clouds her emotions. "How did this happen? Why did it happen?"

A face she doesn't recognize appears in the mirror behind her.

She tries to move, but her body won't respond.

"Who are you?" she asks, her voice shaking. "Why did I kill so many of my people? What did you do to me?"

"You know me, Allison," the person replies. "It's Malum. And I was just having a little fun, no harm in that."

Allison can't think about his words, though, because in one second, her hand is at her own throat. The sword is pressing into her neck.

"Time to wake up," the person says to her with a smile.

Her hand tightens around the weapon and in an instant, Allison slashes her own throat.

 -------

Allison sits up, gasping for air as she does. Her eyes are wide as she takes in the Hale house's partially burned walls. She makes eye contact with Scott who rushes over to her and wraps her in a hug.

"What the hell was all of that?" Lydia asks from beside Stiles.

The boy, still in his werewolf costume shakes his head, "It was one super screwed up nightmare."

Laughter fills the room as the rest of the group sits up, Erica and Derek by each other, Camilla and Isaac holding hands tightly, and Jackson cradling Nolan in his lap.

"That was unbelievably fun," Malum says as it appears in the room. "Didn't you all have a great damn time? Jackson, you looked fantastic in those robes."

Jackson growls and tightens his grip around Nolan.

"In all honesty," Stiles says, "you've really over stayed your welcome."

"And it's time for you to get out of Paige's body," Derek says through clenched teeth.

The Root frowns, "Why do you have to ruin my fun? I had a great time and you poor sports are so killing my buzz."

"We really need to get him to a hospital," Jackson says sternly, not looking at The Root but only at Derek.

"Camilla ought to go too," Isaac says, "those ropes messed up her wrists."

The girl in question shakes her head, "I'm fine."

"You're going," Isaac insists. "If your dad sees them he's going to come for me crossbows a-blazing."

"Hello!" Malum says, grabbing everyone's attention. "Are you dummies not getting this? I just put you all into a mass dream where you were one by one murdered. Aren't you the tiniest bit worried that I'll try and make this dream a reality?"

"Why not do it now?" Scott asks. "If you're so freaking powerful, just end it now."

The boy's eyes begin to glow red and The Root laughs it off, "Look at the balls teen wolf suddenly grew. Don't you little killjoys worry… I'll end it soon. I can get you fools wherever and whenever I want. The second you think you're safe, I'll prove to you just how not safe you really are."

There's a snapping sound and then Malum is gone.

"Ow," Nolan groans from where he lays in Jackson's lap.

Getting his arms underneath the other boy, Jackson lifts him up and begins carrying him up the stairs, and out to the car.

Everyone else slowly follows him.

Anger rolls off of Jackson, and he yells, "Stilinski, you're driving!"

"Guess, I should be—"

"NOW!" Jackson yells, stopping Stiles from finishing his sentence. Instead the boy runs out after Jackson.

Lydia walks over to Allison, pulling off her blonde wig in the process, "Thanks for killing me, always knew I could count on you."

Scott, who has his arm around the brunette, pulls Allison tighter to him as the girl begins to say, "Lydia I had no idea what I was doing, I…"

"It was a joke. You'd never hurt me, I know that."

Allison nods and then follows Lydia and Scott out of the house and to her car. She smiles lightly at Camilla who smiles back and takes Isaac's hand, following her cousin out of the house. Derek and Erica are the only ones left in the house.

Erica yanks hard on the cape around her neck and manages to get it off, dropping it to the floor, "This whole thing is totally fucked."

"I'd say," Derek agrees. "Hopefully that Nolan kid will be alright, because we're going to need him."

Erica shakes her head, "For what?"

"So far, he's been the only one to give us any solid information. Scott's boss only told us legends, but what Nolan told us was something set in fact. We're going to need him to help us figure out how to kick Malum's shape-shifting ass."

Erica nods and the two begin to exit the house, "Come on, hubby," she teases.

Derek smiles at her, and she smiles back with a bit of seduction in her eyes that makes Derek want to kiss her just like in the dream.

Before he can make a move, she turns away and walks out the door.

\-------


	7. Friday Night Bites (3x19)

Erica dunks her spoon into her glass of chocolate milk and stirs it.

Her father grabs a piece of toast and takes a bite out of it. The newspaper makes a noise as he flips the page.

"Are you going to come join us at the table for breakfast, sweetheart?" her mother asks, sipping a cup of coffee. Erica turns to her parents and smiles faintly.

"I'm not that hungry but I'll sit," she tells them, grabbing her glass and moving to the table.

Her parents smile at her and continue eating their breakfast.

"We're so glad you're back honey," Erica's mom tells her. "We missed you so much."

Erica's father puts down his newspaper and says, "We really did, princess."

"I missed you guys too," she says sincerely.

"We were so worried you had had a seizure somewhere and you were all alone. I know you had started to grow out of them, but you never know. We were lost without our baby," Erica's mother adds, her eyes beginning to tear up.

"Well, I'm back, and I'm not going anywhere," Erica promised. "Except for school… which I should probably leave for now. I'll see you guys later."

She stands up and kisses both of them on the cheek.

"Are you sure you're okay to drive, honey?" her father asks as she swings her backpack on her shoulder.

"I'm sure, thanks, Dad."

The man smiles at her and turns back to his newspaper. Erica grabs her keys from the counter and heads out the door to her Impala.

When she steps into the car she sighs happily.

"I missed you, Phillip," she says to the car.

She starts the engine and dials a number as she pulls out of her driveway.

"Hey, you on your way?" Isaac's voice says on the other line when he picks up.

"Yep, just left," she says.

"Alright, I'll be waiting for you. How's it going with your parents?"

"Pretty good, surprisingly. I just told them some bullshit lie about how I was stressed and Boyd was having trouble at home so we just decided to leave for a while. They were a little upset, but mostly glad I was home," Erica tells him.

"That's good. You still mad at Derek?"

Erica replays their argument in his head: he had been ignoring her, so she confronted him and he told her he thought it was time she move back in with her parents. No explanation. He basically kicked her out.

"Yeah, but not as mad as I was. I'm glad I get to be with my parents again, I didn't realize how much I missed them. But I'm still pissed he just decided to throw me out just because he can't deal with his own damn feelings," Erica rolls her eyes.

"Yeah, I getcha. Maybe it's good you two are apart for a while, so you can both clear your heads and figure things out," Isaac advises.

Erica laughs, "You sound like we're a couple."

"Well, everyone can tell there's something there. Even Malum made you a couple in that mass dream," Isaac explains.

"Well, everyone but Derek thinks we could be together apparently," Erica mutters.

"Cut him some slack, the last girl he really liked turned out to be a monster, so he's probably scared or something…"

"Whatever," Erica says, finishing the topic. "I'm almost there so be ready. I'm not coming inside."

"I am, don't worry," Isaac tells her, smirking.

"Good, see ya in a minute."

Erica hangs up the phone and within seconds she pulls into the loft's parking lot.

  ** _TEEN WOLF_**

The boys file into the locker room one after another. They're all drenched in sweat after a grueling morning practice.

Scott and Stiles move over to their lockers and Scott peels off his practice jersey, tossing it into the hamper to the left of the locker. Jackson and Danny come in, moving over to their lockers, doing the same.

Danny grabs his shower gel and says, "Great work out there Leroy."

Greenberg smiles and begins to say thanks when the coach interrupts him.

"You ladies better have your A-game on tonight," Coach Finstock screams at the lacrosse players. "The Waterdale Warthogs may have a ridiculous name but last year they were our toughest competition!"

"Okay we get it," Stiles says to Scott, "we're a bunch of girls who need to be ready to straddle some hogs."

"What was the Stilinksi?" Coach shouts, drawing attention to the boy.

Stiles looks around and sees Jackson shirtless and chuckling, he then begins to stutter, "I, uh, was just um… uh… like… we're gonna win tonight, coach!"

"That's what I thought," Finstock replies with a scowl, "now hit the showers, you all smell like mediocrity... and balls."

 -------

"Just ask him," Allison insists, "it's not like he's going to say no."

Camilla quickly rolls her eyes, "Armpit, this isn't me asking him to go play mini-golf, I'm asking him to come for dinner with our fathers… the big men with lots of guns and a thirst for werewolf blood. If you were him would you want to come?"

"Just. Ask."

Isaac enters the room just as the bell rings and then takes his seat beside Lydia, throwing a quick smile in Camilla's direction. The girl feels herself blush and she quickly averts her eyes to the cover of her chemistry textbook.

"Alright class," Mrs. Trumbolt smiles, pulling up the sleeves of her maroon sweater. "Today we're doing something your old teacher, Mr. Harris, had in his notes. Around the World Lab, we'll be going counter clockwise and doing one step of the lab with a new partner each time. Let's get right into it, shall we?"

"Looks like you'll be stuck with him," Allison smiles, "he's your first partner."

Just then Allison gets up and moves over to a short boy with curly hair and Isaac moves over to where Camilla sits.

He smiles at her as he sets his notebook down on the desk and begins to smack his pencil against it.

"So what were you guys talking about?" he asks casually.

The dark haired girl sighs and opens the vial of sodium chloride, "My dad sort of wants you to come for dinner tonight. Which is totally ridiculous, he's never been like this with any of my other… whatevers, and trust me I understand if you don't want to come because he is a hunter and everything so, I mean I can just tell him you—"

"I'd love to," Isaac beams.

"Argent family dinners aren't so bad," Scott says from behind the couple, "I mean, yeah there's a lot of hostility in the room but that usually disappears before dessert."

Suddenly Camilla perks up, "Why don't you join us then? I'm sure Armpit would love to have you."

Allison whips her head around to stare at her cousin and at Scott, "You are a thing of evil," the brunette girl glares. "Scott, you don't have to come."

"It's no problem," the boy smiles, "what's one more family gathering? Just, uh, make sure your dad has the crossbow locked up."

Out of the blue everyone hears a ding and then Mrs. Trumbolt's voice saying, "Switch!"

Isaac smiles once again before getting up and moving to the curly haired boy, as Stiles comes and sits down beside Camilla, "You coming to the game tonight?"

Across the room sit Jackson and Lydia, both are silent and intently working on their portion of the lab.

"Are we ever going to talk about the giant homosexual elephant in the room?" Lydia asks as she adds three drops of dye into the beaker that sits between them, changing the liquid from clear to yellow.

Jackson raises an eyebrow, "Excuse me?"

Lydia chuckles, "Camilla pointed it out last week at the dance. You get sent away to England for school and then you're back and you've been kicked out, I've pieced it together and it dawned on me that maybe you're back because you took the phrase 'you suck' to a whole new level."

"Lydia, look it's not what you think I just –"

"How long have you been fooling around with Nolan?" Lydia asks, cutting Jackson's protests off.

"I haven't been... We aren't."

Lydia looks down at the beaker and watches as it begins to fizzle due to something she had just added, "You know, I don't understand how you can just all of a sudden be into boys. We were together for three years and then you start driving stick… didn't you love me?"

Jackson sighs, "Of course I did, but I realized that we were more of a superficial couple than anything. I treated you like crap and you let me; you acted like an idiot and I let you. We were the jock and the it-girl; that was us. I did love you, Lydia, I did, but we weren't good for each other. You need someone who you don't have to act dumb for and I need someone who won't put up with my abuse because they're 'in love' with me."

"I just… we had sex; we were together in every way. How can that just mean nothing now?"

"It still means something," Jackson replies, putting his hand on her knee, "but you and I aren't the same people we were. We have to move on and if I move on with a guy that's just that, it doesn't make you any less than you are – but now you need to find someone who's going to love you for you and not the person you turn yourself into for them."

Mrs. Trumbolt rings the bell again and Jackson gathers his things and moves over to Camilla as Lydia is greeted by a short girl with glasses. The strawberry blonde girl shakes her head and turns to face the girl before saying, "Would you hand me the second beaker please?"

\-------

Camilla finishes placing silverware around the dining room table and sighs. She navigates through a bunch of boxes and looks over herself in the mirror.

Allison walks up behind her with a big bowl of salad in her hands.

"Relax, Camilla. You look amazing," Allison tells her cousin. "Everything's going to go fine, I've done this before."

Camilla turns away from her reflection and says, "Yeah but not with my father. He eats my boyfriends alive. Not that Isaac is my boyfriend or anything… but you know what I mean."

"He still hasn't asked you to be his girlfriend yet?"

"No…"

"Well, it hasn't been that long. And things have been kinda crazy lately. But don't worry, he likes you. A lot. Everyone can see it, trust me."

Camilla smiles from her cousin's reassuring words and moves to the kitchen to carry more things to the table.

Scott and Isaac arrive within minutes and soon enough, everyone is sitting at the table, eating.

"So, Isaac," Ron asks, "You're a werewolf?"

"Dad!" Camilla exclaims.

Chris laughs, "Ron, cool it. I think we all know who the werewolves are here."

"Just making conversation," the other man says, shrugging. He takes a bite of his steak and moans, "This is some nice steak."

"My, uh, grandma has a recipe for an amazing mushroom sauté. I haven't had it in a while, but I ate it all the time when I was a kid," Isaac says.

"I love mushrooms," Ron tells him, eyeing him curiously.

"I remember the recipe, so maybe after dinner I could write it down for you. It'll change your life," Isaac says to him.

"I would love that," Ron says, his eyes going wide from excitement.

Camilla doesn't look up from her plate, embarrassed and nervous. Isaac, who sits next to her reaches under the table and squeezes her knee.

She looks up at him and he smiles at her, and in a flash, her worries melt away and her heart pounds.

Ron's phone starts to ring, causing the two to come back to reality.

Ron finishes chewing and glances at the screen before answering, "Hey, Susan."

"Who's Susan?" Allison mouths to Camilla.

"No idea," she mouths back.

Everyone looks at Ron curiously as he chats with the mysterious Susan. When he hangs up, he notices everyone's eyes are on him.

"What? Can't a man have a conversation?"

"Who's Susan?" Camilla asks.

"A woman your dad met at the singles mixer last week. They really hit it off," Chris says, smiling at his brother.

Camilla frowns, waiting for her dad to comment.

"Yeah. I met Susan last week. She wants to go out again this weekend," Ron says, not being able to meet his daughter's eyes.

An awkward silence fills the room.

Scott interrupts when he says, "I hate to leave so early, but I have to head to the school for my lacrosse game. We've got to be there early to warm up."

"I'll walk you out," Allison says, wiping her mouth with her napkin.

"Thanks for having me, Chris and Ron. Dinner was amazing. See you guys some other time," Scott says smiling and waving goodbye.

Chris smiles and nods and Ron waves.

The two leave, and another silence fills the room.

"Isaac, I thought you played lacrosse?" Chris asks.

"I did," he answers. "But this year I decided to quit. My heart wasn't really in it anymore."

"Do you play any other sports?" Ron asks.

"No sir."

"Do you have a job?"

"No sir."

Ron nods, taking in the information. Camilla doesn't say a word, but she angrily finishes her plate with a frustrated look on her face.

Ron leans back in his chair and puts his hands behind his head, "That was delicious. Camilla, when you're done will you clear the table?"

The brunette doesn't answer, but scoots her chair back and throws down her napkin.

She grabs the empty plates and heads into the kitchen.

"What's her problem?" Ron asks, using his tongue to pick food out of his teeth.

"I think she's upset about Susan," Chris tells his brother.

Ron sighs, "I knew she would be. I didn't want to tell her about her unless things got more serious."

"Oh, sorry," Chris says. "I didn't know."

"It's alright. She'll be fine, you just gotta let her blow off some steam and she'll be over it."

The three guys sit in silence and Allison comes back into the room.

"Are you going to the game tonight, Allison?" her father asks.

"I was planning on it," she answers.

He nods, "Alright, just wondering. Are you coming home after?"

"Probably. We might go out for a little after, though."

Before Chris can speak, Camilla storms back into the room and grabs the glasses and other dishes from the table and leaves.

Isaac jumps up, "I'm going to go help her."

In the kitchen, Camilla slams dishes around and cleans up.

"Hey," Isaac says with a small smile.

Camilla jumps, not knowing he had come in.

"Hey, sorry, about that. He's always been like that," she says, turning back to the dishes.

"It's fine," he says, moving closer to her. "You want some help?"

"You don't need to," she says.

"But I want to," he tells her, grabbing one of her arms gently. "What's wrong?"

Camilla stops cleaning and looks at him, "It's nothing, really. He just bugs me when he does that stuff."

"Camilla," Isaac says. "You can tell me anything. I want to know why you're upset."

The girl sighs and wipes her hand on her forehead.

"I don't understand why he's okay with dating so soon. My mother died a little less than a year ago! How can he want to date so soon?" She turns back to the dishes and begins slamming them around again.

"Hey, calm down," Isaac says, grabbing her arm again. "Just talk to me, don't take it out on the dishes."

Camilla laughs and stops. She turns towards him and says, "It just upsets me. I'm not ready for another woman in our lives. I don't understand how he is."

"He was only with her for one night," Isaac says calmly, running his fingers over Camilla's cheek. "It's one little date, he's not going to marry her the next day. He probably just misses being in the company of a woman. He needs to live again."

Camilla's eyes look right at Isaac's as she sighs, "I know. I know. It's just hard. I miss her so much."

Isaac wraps his arms around her, "I know you do. And he does too. You just have to let him do his own thing. He doesn't like you bringing home werewolves and you don't like that he's seeing women again. You both aren't happy with things, but at the end of the day you still love each other, right?"

"Yeah," Camilla says, relaxing into his embrace.

"So who cares about the little things? You both are doing what makes you happy, so it's okay. You still have each other, and those things aren't going to take away any of the love you have for each other."

"Why are you so amazing?" Camilla asks, pulling away to look in his eyes and grabbing his hands.

"Because I know an amazing girl who makes me want to be a better person," he tells her, squeezing her hands and smiling.

Camilla blushes and smiles back. Without a warning, Isaac leans in and kisses her.

Their hands migrate to each other's bodies as their lips move passionately. They don't break apart, and a hunger takes over.

For minutes, they continue kissing and feeling each other, until they pause to breathe.

They both laugh, their hearts pounding.

"We'd better start cleaning these dishes before someone comes in here and catches us," Camilla says, a bit breathless.

"Yeah, we'd better," Isaac replies, his eyes locked on Camilla's.

Within seconds their mouths are together again, that same fierceness in their lips.

Camilla grabs at Isaac's shirt, wanting nothing more than to tug it up and over his head. Isaac's hands wander all over Camilla's body, groping every wonderful curve.

All of a sudden the door to the kitchen opens, forcing the two to break apart.

Allison comes to a halt, "Oh, God. I'm sorry, I—"

"Sorry," Camilla breathes, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.

"No I'll just… go…" Allison says, as she walks right back out the door.

When she's gone the two laugh.

"Oops," Camilla smiles.

\-------

A little bit later on, Isaac and Camilla make their way to Derek's loft after Isaac receives a message from Derek himself.

"What do you think his plan is?" Camilla asks, riding in the passenger seat.

"I honestly have no idea," Isaac shrugs as he pulls into the loft's parking lot.

They make their way up and walk in to the living room where Derek sits, waiting.

"Hey man, so what's the plan?" Isaac says. He chuckles and adds, "That rhymed."

Camilla smiles and shakes her head and Derek narrows his eyes.

"This isn't time for rhymes, Isaac. We're breaking the bond tonight."

"Yeah, I know, that's what your text said. So how do you suggest this goes down?" Isaac asks seriously.

"We need to break into the graveyard and burn Gerard's body. And whatever is tying Erica to The Root. Deaton says it should still be on the body," Derek tells him.

Camilla gulps at the mention of her dead grandfather, and Isaac reaches for her hand.

"Who is we? Because Scott, Stiles, and Jackson are all playing lacrosse right now," Isaac says.

"Well I don't want to wait until later and risk The Root figuring out what we're trying to do, so I guess you and I will go soon," Derek says, thinking.

"What about Erica? Shouldn't she be with us, just to see if it works? To see if she's okay after?" Isaac asks.

Derek sighs, "Yeah. But I don't know if The Root can tell where she is or anything. I don't want him coming after us."

"Yeah, you're right," Isaac says, trying to think of another way.

"I can help," Camilla says. "I know I'm no badass wolf like you guys, but I know how to dig. That way one of you can be with Erica, watching her. Plus, Gerard's my grandfather, I would kinda like to be there for his impromptu cremation…"

Derek looks at the girl and ponders her suggestion.

"That doesn't sound like a terrible idea," Isaac says. "We could go before halftime, and nobody would suspect a thing. And you can just bring Erica here and watch her until we get back."

Derek thinks for a moment and says, "Okay. But don't screw it up."

 -------

Scott spins around one of Waterdale's players and launches the small rubber ball into the net. The crowd goes wild and several of Scott's teammates come and pat him on the back. Sooner than he'd realized, Scott and the team are back in action.

The ball is tossed from Greenberg's lacrosse stick and to Stiles just as Greenberg is tackled to the ground, grass sliding up and getting caked into his jersey. Stiles turns on his heel and begins running, throwing the ball to Jackson who is quick to throw it to Ethan. Without a second thought Ethan throws the ball as hard as he can into the net, giving Beacon Hills another point.

Whistles are being blown as the other team calls a time out. The team hurries over to the bench, shedding their helmets and taking the waters being tossed at them like they're a life preserver.

Up in the stands, amongst the cheers and clapping, Camilla shifts uncomfortably in her seat, "Can we go now?" she asks Isaac.

"You don't have to do this," Allison tells her, tugging on the end of her blue scarf. "Isaac can easily call Derek and they can go and… do what they need to do."

"Do what they need to do? Why don't you just say dig up and burn granddaddy?"

"Because I'm not tactless," Allison replies, crossing her arms over her chest. She locks eyes with Scott who smiles at her briefly and then looks back at Finstock and nods his head.

Nolan leans around Lydia and says to Isaac, "Once you've dug him up you have to find whatever personal item of Erica's was used and burn that separately. Otherwise the whole thing is a wash."

"And try not to get covered in grave dirt," Lydia remarks, "if two teens run off for a few minutes most people will think they've just gone to make out or something. If you come back all dirty all these parents and kids will know something is off."

Isaac and Camilla nod their heads and then exchange a glance. He sees her brow furrow and wonders if they're really making a mistake.

"Ready?" the boy asks cautiously, wrapping his own scarf securely around his neck.

"As I'll ever be," Camilla responds, standing up and walking down the bleachers and toward his car. Isaac watches her and then turns to Allison.

"Maybe I should just call Derek and have him meet me there. This is beginning to seem like a bad idea," he says to the dark haired girl.

Allison shakes her head, "No, Camilla wants to do this, maybe even needs to, if you try and stop her you'll just be doing more harm than good."

"Besides," Lydia says, "Gerard may have been her grandpa, but he wasn't exactly a big part in any of his grandkids' lives. It'll be hard for her, but she'll get over it."

"Or she'll have nightmares about him for the rest of her life," Nolan says with a smile. "Either way, good luck."

Isaac nods his head, his better judgment telling him that he ought to call Derek and stop Camilla from having to dig up her grandfather. But he doesn't and instead gets into the car with Camilla and stays quiet as they drive to the cemetery.

\-------

Back at the loft, Erica and Derek walk in uneasily. The awkward tension is thick.

"Make yourself comfortable," Derek mumbles, making his way to the kitchen to grab a water.

When he returns to the living room, he moves towards Erica to hand her one. Their fingers brush briefly and they look at each other for a millisecond before quickly looking away.

Derek's phone buzzes and he reads the incoming text.

"That's Isaac," he says. "They just got to the cemetery."

"So it begins," Erica says.

At the cemetery, Isaac and Camilla step out of the car. They try and shield themselves from the cold and walk close together.

"You know where we're going?" Isaac asks.

"Yeah, I remember," Camilla nods, her eyes full of sorrow.

Isaac grabs her hand and locks their fingers together.

"I'm here for you. If you need to stop, just tell me. I know this is hard on you…"

Camilla smiles and leans in for a peck.

"I'll be fine. I'm strong," she tells him, resting her head on his shoulder as they walk closer to the grave.

In Isaac's other hand, he carries two shovels for them.

"I know you are, babe," he responds.

In a few minutes they stop and Camilla shines a flashlight on the grave in front of them.

"Here he is," she says quietly.

"You ready?" Isaac asks, handing her one of the shovels.

Camilla looks up at the dark sky before she answers, "Let's do it." She grabs the shovel from his hand and exhales loudly.

"Who would've thought I meet my girlfriend's dad and then dig up her dead grandfather all in one night?" Isaac asks rhetorically before shoving his shovel into the dirt.

Camilla is about to strike the ground but stops, "Girlfriend?"

Isaac stops and looks up, a smile on his face.

"Are you okay with that?"

Camilla smiles and walks over to kiss him, "Honestly, it's just what I needed." She turns back to her spot and hits the ground hard with her shovel, and their digging begins.

A little over an hour later, and a few pieces of clothing less, the Isaac strikes something hard.

"We've struck gold, baby," he says, wiping sweat and dirt from his face.

Camilla fans herself and shrugs of her t-shirt, leaving her in just a camisole.

"Let's do this," she says.

Together, they get the last of the dirt off of the coffin. Isaac boosts Camilla out of the hole and turns to open the lid.

Camilla looks away before Gerard's body comes into view, and Isaac covers his nose, preparing for a possible nasty smell.

"Is it bad?" Camilla asks, still not being able to look. Isaac boosts himself from the hole and comes up next to her.

"You don't need to watch. I can burn him by myself if you want to go back to the car," he tells her.

She shakes her head, "No. I need to do this."

She walks up to the edge and looks down. Gerard's body has begun to decompose, and Camilla shudders.

Isaac comes up to her, and besides them both being sweaty, he puts his arm around her.

"You're amazing for doing this, you know?" he tells her, earning him a smile.

She turns away and grabs the lighter fluid and the book of matches they purchased before going to the lacrosse game.

"Did you get the thing that ties Erica to The Root?" she asks.

"No, I couldn't see anything in there. I'll grab the flashlight and head back down," Isaac answers.

When he gets the light, he carefully jumps back down and begins the search.

"Those aren't the clothes he died in, but we already checked those, seeing if he left a… suicide note, I guess. But there was nothing, so it might be gripped in his hand or something," Camilla says.

Isaac shakes his head and breathes deeply. He checks both hands and comes up with nothing.

"What if The Root took it with him?" he asks.

Camilla thinks for a second, not wanting to accept defeat.

"Okay, you're going to hate me for this…" she says to her boyfriend.

Isaac looks up at her, "That's impossible. Just tell me."

Camilla sighs, "Well, thinking back to all the crime shows and horror movies I've seen, there have sometimes been dead bodies with things in their um….. mouths…."

Isaac's eyes widen as he understands what Camilla is suggesting.

"Do you hate me?" Camilla asks worriedly.

"Of course not," Isaac says. "I hate what I'm about to do." Isaac gathers his courage and reaches into the coffin where the old man lies. He kneels down and puts the flashlight in his mouth.

His work is quick as he opens the deceased man's mouth with a little difficulty. He instantly notices what looks like a piece of paper and pulls it out.

He hands it up to Camilla and pulls himself out of the grave. When he's on his feet, he paces around, shaking is hands and gagging.

"I can't believe I just did that," he says. "I'm gonna pass out."

Camilla reluctantly opens the mysterious piece of paper only to discover it's a picture rather than a note.

"Babe," she says when she recognizes the face. "You did it. This is a picture of Erica. This is what we needed!"

Isaac stops pacing, and a look of relief washes over his face. Camilla throws her arms around him and kisses him.

"Now the hard part's over," she tells him. "We just need to cremate him, burn the picture, and dump the dirt right back on that bastard."

"You have such a way with words," Isaac coos jokingly, pecking Camilla on her lips.

Within ten minutes, their tasks are done and they are walking hand in hand back to the car.

"Let's go back to the loft to check on Erica and get cleaned up," Isaac says. "Then we can probably hang out there for the rest of the night."

"That sounds good," Camilla says. "But I should probably stop back at the game, just to make sure nobody freaks about us being gone for so long."

"Alright," Isaac says, kissing the top of his girlfriend's head. "You should probably send everyone a quick text now, though, too."

Camilla nods and pulls out her phone.

At the loft, Derek is freaking out, replaying the last ten minutes in his head.

Erica sits on the couch and Derek on a chair, both watching Family Feud, trying to make the time go by faster.

Derek glances over at Erica and nearly jumps when he notices her nose bleeding.

"Erica, your nose is bleeding," he tells her. The blonde girl's hand shoots to her face, touching the blood.

"Shit," she says. "I'll be in the bathroom."

The girl stands up and walks away. Derek watches her hips sway back and forth, a bit of worry in the back of his mind.

He waits about five minutes, and Erica doesn't return. He stands up to go check on her, and makes his way to the bathroom.

The door is open just a crack, and he can see the light is on.

He knocks, "Erica? You okay?"

He doesn't hear an answer so he pushes open the door, not sure what to expect.

The light floods into the dark hallway he stands in, and Derek gets a better view of the room.

Erica lies on the floor, unconscious.

Blood covers the sink and is in drops on the floor. The blood from her nose isn't the only source, though.

Derek rushes to Erica's side and examines her closer. Blood soaks through her shirt, coming from her abdomen. He grabs her into his arms and shakes her gently.

"Erica, wake up!" he yells. He pulls up her shirt and sees the Resurrection Triquetra carved into her body.

"What the hell?" Derek says out loud. Worry and anger flow through him as he picks her up and carries her to the kitchen. He sets her on the table and gets a washcloth wet, placing it on her face.

He dials Deaton, but he doesn't get an answer. He leaves a frantic message, explaining the situation.

He hangs up the phone and slams it down in anger.

He paces the floor, not knowing what to do.

Back in the present, Derek still paces the floor, waiting for a response.

His phone buzzes and he expects it to be Deaton, but when he looks at the screen, he sees it's Camilla.

Her message says that they successfully burned the body and a picture of Erica, which was what they think The Root used to bring her back.

Derek is relieved. He looks back at Erica, who still lies unconscious. He dials Deaton again, and this time he gets a response.

"Sorry, Derek, I was at a banquet. I didn't get a chance to listen to your voicemail, what do you need?" asks the man on the other line.

"It's Erica. We broke the bond, well, we think we did. I don't know for sure. But she's not conscious. She got a bloody nose and the next thing I know the Resurrection symbol is carved into her. What the hell is going on?" Derek asks angrily.

"I'm not entirely sure, I've never known of anyone who actually broke the bond. It seems to me this is her body's way of separating itself from The Root. The Triquetra is carved into her now because she is being brought back, but with full control of her body."

"So what am I supposed to do?"

"Just keep an eye on her. Keep her temperature stable and try to stop the bleeding," Deaton tells him calmly. "I'll call you back in a bit, I have to go now. If you really need me, call again."

"Okay," Derek says before hanging up. He closes his eyes and runs his hands through his hair.

"Derek?" Erica says in a croaky voice from behind him.

Derek whirls around and quickly moves to her side.

"Erica? Are you okay?"

"I think so. Why the hell am I covered in blood? It was just a bloody nose," she says, confused.

"It was until you passed out in the bathroom with the Resurrection Triquetra carved into your stomach," he tells her.

"What?" she asks, bewildered. She moves slowly, but she reaches her hand to the hem of her shirt and pulls it up, revealing her stomach.

"Derek… there's nothing here," she says. And she's right. Where Derek saw the symbol is now clean, unmarked flesh.

Derek backs up, confused.

Isaac and Camilla walk in at this time, covered in dirt.

"Erica what the hell?" Isaac asks rushing to her side.

"Yeah, we have no idea," the blonde says truthfully.

\-------

Lydia and Nolan watch as the game rages on, Beacon Hills is up by three and doesn't seem to be losing any steam.

"Back in Illinois," Nolan begins, "we had Friday night football. There wasn't a lacrosse team or any mention of this game… why is it so popular here?"

Lydia shrugs, "Beats me, but there's something satisfying about watching Jackson get tackled that I can't quite explain."

"You guys not getting back together?" Nolan asks casually, zipping his coat up further.

"It doesn't look like it," the girl replies, "although I'm sure you're not too torn up about that."

Nolan eyebrows rise, "What makes you think that?"

"Don't play coy with me, Nolan. Only a blind man wouldn't be able to tell that there's something between you two."

"Lydia I would never…"

"It's okay though," Lydia smiles, "I'm over it. Really over it this time, I've got my eyes on someone else."

Just as the words leave her mouth, Stiles is taken to the ground by one of Waterdale's attackers, for a minute all you can see are the blue and yellow colors of the particular Warthogs' jersey. There's an audible gasp from the crowd as it happens.

"Oh my god," Nolan exclaims.

"He'll be fine, Stiles tends to spend most games on the ground anyway."

Allison comes back to the stands then with two hot chocolates in red solo cups in her hands; she gives one to Lydia and sits, asking, "That line was like purgatory. What did I miss?"

"Stiles was just pummeled by one of the Warthogs," Lydia replies.

Allison chuckles and takes a sip of her steaming hot cocoa when Camilla appears and comes up to the stands, her gray and black plaid pea coat moving perfectly in time with her body. As the girl sits she removes the matching beanie and then says, "Grandpa is roasted."

"Great visual," Nolan says flatly, sticking his hands in his pockets.

"So did it work?" Lydia asks quickly.

Camilla shrugs, "I think so, I mean we burned the personal item and then we burned Gerard… And we saw Erica… for some reason the Resurrection Triquetra carved itself into her body. Derek talked to Deaton and he says it probably her body taking back all of the control. Does that mean it worked?"

"That's what all the books say," Nolan answers.

"Are you alright?" Allison asks her cousin, locking eyes with her.

Camilla swallows hard and turns to face the field, "I'm okay. Besides the horrendous smell of burning old man flesh that I will never be able to forget, I'm just fine."

"You're sure?" Allison persists.

"Yes, Armpit, I'm one hundred percent positive. It's not like Gerard was grandfather of the year or anything, all he ever really was to me was a paycheck on my birthday. It's not like I've got fond memories of him teaching me how to ride a bike or how to play tennis. He's just check man to me."

There's a ball of tension that sits with the four teens for a minute and as Stiles scores another point the kids hear his father scream, "That's my boy!" from the front row of bleachers. Lydia's face pulls into a smile as she watches Stiles wave at his dad and then get back into the game.

"Where's Isaac?" Allison asks, hoping to break the tension.

"He stayed at Derek's to be with Erica. I figured I might as well come back so nobody gets suspicious," Camilla answers.

Jackson hurls the ball to Stiles who runs around number seven, Walcott, and gets the ball to Scott. From the stands, the crowd watches as Ethan is tackled trying to block one of the attackers from getting to Scott who is intent on winning the game.

With only seconds left in the game Scott catches the ball and then hops over two of Waterdale's attackers, all the while chucking the ball into the net. As the crowd screams the refs call the game and Beacon Hills reigns victorious.

\-------

Derek and Erica sit in Derek's Camaro later that night as he drives her back to her house.

"Are you sure all the blood is off? The last thing I need is for my parent's to freak out about me coming home covered in blood," Erica asks Derek while checking herself out in the mirror.

"You're perfect," Derek says before he realizes what he is saying. Erica stops finger-combing her hair and freezes.

Derek's jaw clenches and he tries to pretend he didn't just say that as he pulls up along the curb in front of her house.

"Thanks for, um, being here for me tonight. I'm sure I freaked you out," Erica says.

"Well, Deaton and Nolan say everything worked, so hopefully that's true…"

Erica and nods and opens the door.

"Give me a thumbs up from your bedroom window if everything's ok," Derek tells her before she shuts the door.

He watches her hurry to the front door and walk in.

Inside, Erica leans against the wall in her front entrance. She hates herself for wanting Derek so bad, when he obviously didn't want anything from her.

She shakes her head and walks into the living room, where she can hear the TV on.

When she walks in, her father looks up from his chair at her and smiles.

"Hey, dad. Sorry it's late. The lacrosse game just got done and I wanted to congratulate the guys quick," she lies.

"That's okay, princess," he tells her, still looking at her.

"Where's mom?" she asks.

"In the kitchen," he says in a weird voice.

"Are you okay? You're not mad I'm home late are you?" Her hand automatically flicks to her hair, where there had been blood before. Her blood soaked shirt was left at Derek's and she borrowed one of Isaac's but it was covered by her coat.

"No I'm not mad," he says standing up. Erica can only see his back as he stands, and doesn't turn to face her. "But no, I'm not okay."

"What do you—" she begins, only to be cut off at the sight of her father when he turns around.

Stab wounds cover his chest and stomach, blood soaking his clothes much like her shirt earlier.

Erica gasps, "Dad? What the hell happened? Are you okay? What's going on?"

Her father smiles and puts his hands on his hips.

"No, Erica, your father is not okay. And neither is your mother, for that matter."

"I don't understand…" she says.

"Oh silly girl. If you hadn't broken the bond, you would've recognized me."

Erica's eyes widen and her heart pounds. "Malum."

"Good job, princess," The Root responds.

Tears flood from Erica's eyes, "What did you do to my parents?"

"Isn't it obvious? I killed them," The Root tells her, smiling.

"W-why?" she asks, sobbing. Her knees give way and she lands on the floor, broken.

"Well, you were taken away from me, so I took something away from you. Simple. Easy peasy. You don't pull one over on The Root and get away with it."

Anger rips through Erica and she stands up, "I'll kill you!"

She growls and extracts her claws.

"No you won't," The Root says. In an instant he snaps and disappears before Erica can make a move.

Erica stands still for a moment, unsure of what to do. She remembers what Malum said about her mother and rushes to the kitchen.

On the floor, he mother lays, similar wounds marking her body.

Erica kneels next to her and sobs even harder.

"Mom…" she cries, grabbing her mother's cold hand.

She bows her head and screams, her body shuddering from the pain and sorrow. Tears spill from her eyes.

She remembers Derek is waiting for her signal in his car. She bends down and kisses her mother on the forehead, then gets up and makes her way out of the house, her knees wobbling.

When Derek sees her coming out, he is confused. When he gets a closer look, he sees the pain and tears on Erica's face and jumps out of the car to go to her.

He gets to her and she begins to collapse, but he catches her in his arms.

"Erica," he says with an abundance of worry. "What's wrong? What happened?"

Erica sobs louder and shakes, unable to speak. She sniffs and with all the strength she can muster she says, "They're dead. He killed them."

Her body can't support itself any longer, and Derek is the only thing holding her up.

He scoops her up and holds her to him.

"Erica, what do you mean?"

Through her sobs she manages to say, "The Root killed my parents."

\-------

 


	8. Cold As Ice (3x20)

"It doesn't really matter how you do it," Coach Finstock says to his seventh period economics class, "on paper or electronically I don't care. Just make sure you have your economic growth chart ready to present by next Tuesday… now I assume you mongrels can divide into partners without my assistance, so do it and get to work."

Camilla turns herself around and looks into Isaac's green eyes, "What do you say? Want to be partners?"

"Hm, I'll have to think about it… yes," the boy replies with a smile.

"Great," the dark haired girl says, smiling back, she grabs her notebook from her desk and places it on to Isaac's. "So I was thinking we could just…"

Across the room sit Nolan and Jackson. Nolan writes the last of his notes into the purple notebook before looking up to see Jackson smiling at him.

The auburn haired boy sets his pen down, "What?"

"I was thinking we could be partners," the other boy says. "There's only two other people in this classroom who were possible candidates and since they've already teamed up… sort of looks like you and I are together by default."

Nolan sets his pen down and then shuts the notebook, "You aren't my only option, I could be partners with Kallie."

"Kallie's the girl with the long black hair, right? She looks like she's already got a partner."

Turning around, Nolan see that Kallie is contently writing something down while talking with another girl, he sighs and looks back at Jackson, "Looks like you're right. We're partners then, I guess."

"Not if you don't want to be, I just…"

"No, really," Nolan smiles, "I'm all for it. Do you want to work on it tonight? Get the whole thing out of the way?"

Jackson nods as the bell rings. The boy rips a piece of paper from out of his binder and quickly scribbles his phone number on it. "Text me and I'll give you my address. We can meet up and get it done tonight at around six if that works for you."

"Yeah, alright," the boy smiles, pulling his backpack over his shoulder. "I'll see you tonight."

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Camilla grabs an orange marker and finishes up the writing on her and Isaac's poster for the econ project. When she stops writing, she caps the marker and stares intently at her work.

"It looks awesome, babe," Isaac tells her. Camilla doesn't look up, but smiles, still looking at the poster.

"You think so?" she asks, wrinkling her nose.

Isaac leans over and pulls his girlfriend onto his laugh, causing the brunette to laugh.

"I know so. Now we're done, so we can stop doing school work, and just hang out," Isaac says, nuzzling into Camilla's neck.

"Just hang out? That's it?" Camilla says with a teasing frown.

"Well, I mean, we could do a little bit of this…" Isaac says seductively, leaning in and placing his lips on Camilla's.

They break apart and Camilla laughs again "I think I can handle doing that."

"What about some of this?" Isaac leans in again and kisses her more forcefully, pulling her closer to him. Camilla drags her hands along Isaac's back, making him sigh happily at the feeling.

He moves her from his lap and begins to push her down onto the couch, when her phone starts buzzing on the table. The couple looks over at the phone and Isaac moans, "Can't you ignore it?"

"Probably not," Camilla answers. "Now get your hot bod off mine so I can see who it is."

Isaac groans but does as she says. Camilla's hand reaches out and sees the caller is Allison. She huffs but slides her thumb across the screen to answer her cousin's call.

"Hey, Allison, what's up?" she says, sitting up and pulling up a fallen bra strap. Isaac leans into Camilla and begins kissing her neck, making her squirm. "Stop!" she mouths, playfully pushing him away.

"Well, Scott, Lydia, Stiles, and I are going to the skate rink tonight and were wondering if you and Isaac wanted to go."

Camilla looks over at Isaac who shrugs, having been able to hear Allison with his keen senses.

"Yeah, sure, we'll come. What time?"

"Well, um, that's the thing. We probably won't go until later… until it's, you know, empty," Allison says.

"So we're breaking in?" Camilla asks. Isaac raises an eyebrow.

"I mean if you want to get all technical…" Allison banters.

Camilla shakes her head, "Well, we'll get back to you on that. We might've had enough of the breaking and entering for a while, with Gerard and the cemetery and everything. Plus, I'm not sure my dad will let me stay out too late." Isaac nods his head and Camilla shudders from remembrance of the burning of her grandfather.

"Alright, well just text me before like… 8, and I'll give you more details if you guys decide to come."

"Sounds good, Armpit," Camilla says before hanging up.

"Well, it's only five now," Isaac says, leaning his head in to kiss Camilla's neck again. "So we've got a while to decide."

Camilla closes her eyes and sets her phone back on the table, "So… true…"

The two are interrupted when Erica walks in and sits on the chair. When they notice her arrival they quickly pull apart.

"Sorry to be a cock block," Erica grimaces. "I'm just sick of sitting in my room all day. I need some human interaction."

"It's cool, we were just trying to pass the time. But I'm glad you came out, I've missed you these last couple days," Isaac tells the blonde.

"I know… It's just—"

"You don't need to explain anything," Isaac stops her. "You just do what you need to."

Erica smiles faintly and nods, "What is this, an econ project?" Her eyes move to the poster board on the table.

"Yeah, we figured we might as well get it done sooner rather than later," Camilla answers.

"Looks good," Erica tells her, causing Camilla to smile. "So what are you guys planning for the rest of the night?"

"Well, we got invited to break into a skate rink with Scott, Stiles, Allison, and Lydia…" Isaac begins.

Erica chuckles a little and shakes her head.

"Yeah, but I think we're just going to hang out here tonight, if you don't mind the company," Camilla tells the girl.

"That would be nice, actually," Erica smiles.

Isaac looks over at Camilla and shakes his head in wonder, reaching over to take her hand in his. He was grateful she wanted to be there for Erica even though they weren't that close.

\-------

Scott sits with Stiles in his living room, playing Call of Duty.

When their game finishes, Stiles throws down his controller and raises his arms above his head, "I am a champion. It's like I've actually fought in wars before."

Scott rolls his eyes and sets his controller down. He stands up and stretches his legs. Just then, Melissa walks in with a file of papers in her hands.

"Hey, boys," she says with a small smile.

"Hey, Mom," Scott says at the same time Stiles nods and waves.

"You guys working hard or hardly working?" she asks as they follow her into the kitchen.

"Both?" Stiles answers unsurely.

Melissa shakes her head and sets her things down on the counter.

"What are those papers for?" Scott asks, eyeing the file.

Melissa turns away to grab a glass out of a cupboard and turns back to face the boys, with a serious look on her face.

"These are the papers that will make me Erica's legal guardian until she turns 18," she answers.

Scott and Stiles's eyes widen.

"W-what? How did this happen?" Scott asks, bewildered.

"Well, her parents were murdered, Scott. And with her history of "running away" CPS would've sent her to a foster home. So I visited her yesterday and brought up this suggestion. This way she can stay with her pack, the only family she's got left."

"And she said yes?" Stiles asks.

Melissa nods, "Yeah. I didn't know what to expect, but she was all for it. She thanked me a million times. I just feel so bad for the girl."

Everyone is silent for a moment, feeling empathy for their friend.

"That's really awesome of you, Mom," Scott says, moving next to her and placing his arm around her.

"Yeah, you really did a nice thing for her," Stiles adds.

"She needs you guys in her life, I wasn't about to let anyone take that away from her," Melissa says.

"So is she going to start staying here and everything?" Scott asks, his arm still around his mother.

Melissa shrugs, "I'm not going to make her. She agreed that some of her stuff from her house should come here, just so I don't seem like a neglectful guardian if anyone decides to investigate this situation. But, I know she'd probably feel better at the loft, so if she wants to stay there, she can."

"You really are amazing, Mama McCall," Stiles says, earning a smile from Melissa.

\-------

Arriving at the Whittemore house just after six o'clock that evening, Nolan is led to Jackson's room. Upon entering it, Jackson pulls the door shut behind him and watches as Nolan examines the place.

"Wow, this place is… pristine," Nolan says as he sets his Jansport backpack onto the neatly made bed.

"Yeah," Jackson agrees, "our housekeeper Vera does a pretty good job. Or maybe her name is Aurora... I'm not sure my mom fires and hires a new maid just about every other week."

"You have a housekeeper? Why am I not surprised…"

Nolan slowly makes his way over to the floor length mirror and watches Jackson move over to his desk in the reflective glass. Jackson watches intently as his project partner explores the room ever so gently.

"Are you waiting for something? A body to drop from the ceiling?" Jackson jokes.

Turning around to face him, Nolan asks, "Why? Is a body going to drop from the ceiling?"

"Just because I'm a werewolf doesn't mean I'm some murderous hellhound."

Nolan sits down on the bed abruptly and then speaks, "But your eyes are blue… when I saw you on the full moon you had blue eyes, that means you've killed."

Jackson sighs, "Yeah, I have. Back when I was the Kanima… my master had me out and killing just about every night. I had no idea I was doing it either, not until Scott and Stiles locked me in the back of an armored truck and all but showed me proof."

"Are you telling me the truth? You aren't going to like… chain me up in your basement and go all Silence of the Lambs on me, are you? Because I like my skin on my body."

"I promise I won't go cutting your skin off."

Nolan let out a sigh, "Good to know."

"Got any other questions up your sleeve?" Jackson asks, scooting his chair closer to the bed.

"Yeah, do you know why Lydia has it in her head that there's something going on between us?"

Jackson laughs, "She's just… she's Lydia. That pretty much sums it up."

"It's crazy though, right… You're not like trying to seduce me or anything are you?"

"Not unless you want me to."

Nolan blushes and then says, "I hope you're right about her just being Lydia, because you and me is just… an insane thought for her to have. I wouldn't ever and you wouldn't ever… and you and Lydia are pretty much my only friends here and I wouldn't want to jeopardize that."

"You won't," Jackson insists. "We're your friends, Nolan. Me, Lydia, and everyone else – you're kind of part of this pack now. Even if you don't realize it."

"You're not at all like what people told me you were like."

"Let me guess, most people said I was Beacon Hills' signature asshole."

"Dick, asshole, jackass, douche bag… you don't have a whole lot of fans in this town," Nolan admits.

Jackson rolls his eyes, "Yet not one of the people telling you how awful I am has the guts to say it to my face. Stiles might be the only one… before I left I was sure that everyone loved me. But being back here I'm realizing that most of the people who claimed to be my friends were more into my looks and my Porsche than anything else."

"Why'd you come back?" Nolan asks suddenly, "I just mean, it seems sort of out of the blue that you're back. What could you have done in that school that was so bad you were expelled?"

"What do you think?"

"Drugs, alcohol, initiating a fight club…"

Again, Jackson laughs, "No, I just broke a rule that they had and I think the fact that I broke that rule with my roommate and two of his friends probably didn't help matters. All four of us got expelled for it and the rest is history."

"Did you vandalize something?" Nolan speculates.

"Not in so many words, but it's the past and honestly it helped me realize who I really am. So I guess I'm kind of thankful I was kicked out."

"Fair enough… and for the record," Nolan says as he unzips his backpack, "I don't think you're an asshole. You're actually a genuinely good guy."

Jackson flashes a grin and says, "I'm glad you think so."

\-------

Lydia spins in a perfect circle, her green skirt puffing out around her. Stiles watches in awe as he ties his laces and then skates out to her.

As the boy comes to her, Lydia grabs his hand and says, "Here's hoping this skate date does better than the last one."

"What do you mean?" Stiles asks as they begin to move around the empty rink.

Lydia throws some hair over her shoulder, "I mean that hopefully this time I won't see any dead people under the ice."

"That's a good hope to have… and did you say 'date'?"

Lydia's mouth turns up in a smile, "You caught that, huh?"

In the stands Scott and Allison laugh as they reminisce about their previous skating endeavor. Scott smiles as Allison impersonates him.

"'I'm a werewolf, Allison,'" she mocks, "'I think I can ice skate.'"

Scott laughs, "I really thought I would be able to!"

"The only thing you were able to do that night is bring me to the verge of tears from laughing so hard. Ha, remember when you fell and thought you'd broken your nose?"

Scott rolls his eyes, "That wasn't funny."

"You're a werewolf! You don't break," the dark haired girl says with a smile.

There's a moment of silence between them and then more laughing as the two share more memories of Scott's failure to skate.

"Maybe I'll be better this time," the boy beams.

"Only one way to find out," Allison says, grabbing his hand and pulling him up and out onto the rink. The two make it halfway around – Scott clutching Allison's hand for dear life – and once they catch up with Lydia and Stiles everything seems to be going smoothly.

"Is Camilla not coming?" Lydia asks after a moment.

"No, she and Isaac decided to stay in with Erica," Allison informs her friend.

"Oh that's niiiiiice!" Scott exclaims as he slips and falls hard onto the ice.

Stiles and Lydia burst into laughter as Allison bends down to help the boy up.

From further away, Stiles says, "Smooth moves, buddy!"

Covering her mouth with her hand, Allison asks, "Are you alright?"

"You're laughing at me," Scott insists as he feels a smile spread across his face.

The girl shakes her head, "No I'm not, I promise. It's just… you fell!"

Scott gives her a faux-angry look and then pulls her down beside him, "Now who's laughing?" he asks as he begins to laugh himself.

\-------

Isaac shrugs on his jacket and bends down to kiss Camilla on the cheek.

"I'll be back. And when I return, you ladies will bow down to me and my splendor of food," Isaac says, imitating a king.

The girls shake their heads and wave him off. He winks at them, grabs his keys, and heads out the door.

"I'm really glad you guys stayed," Erica tells Camilla who had just begun cleaning up the pieces to the game of Monopoly they just played. "I really needed it."

"I'm glad we did too, it's nice getting to know you better. You're basically Isaac's sister, you're a very important part of his life," Camilla says.

"So are you," Erica replies with a smile. "I don't even know if you realize how much you mean to him. He really cares about you."

Camilla blushes and averts her eyes, "I hope so, because I really like him. I haven't really felt this way, well, ever. But I never thought I'd be able to feel happy again after my mom…" she stops, unable to say the word.

"Died?" Erica suggests. "Yeah, I know the feeling."

Camilla's face drains, and she says, "Oh my God, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. I—"

"It's okay, really," Erica assures her. "We both know the same pain, although it sucks, it's kinda nice to have someone who knows how it feels. How long ago did your mother pass, if you don't mind me asking?"

"It was almost a year ago," Camilla tells the blonde. "Just a few days after my birthday."

"So that means your birthday is coming up then?"

"Yeah, it's this Saturday, actually. The first one without her… God, I don't know why I'm blubbering about this, you just lost both of your parents, I should be listening to you!"

"No really, I don't mind. The last few days has been everyone asking me if I'm okay, it's nice for the attention to be off of me for a while," Erica says gratefully.

"Yeah. Everyone means well but it's just like they keep bringing it up and making the cut so much deeper every time they do."

"Exactly," Erica agrees, and then sighs. "Who would've known we'd start bonding over the death of our parents?"

"It's kinda sick, huh?" Camilla says, shaking her head. "A lot of us have dead parents though… It's a common theme with our group of friends and it sucks. I'm just happy my mom died in a non-supernatural way."

"I think Isaac or you told me before," Erica ponders, trying to remember. "It was breast cancer right?"

"Yeah," the other girl answers. "She was struggling with it for a few years. And in her last days she was just so weak. We were expecting her to go at any minute, but I wasn't there when she did. And I regret that so much." The brunette wipes a tear from her eye, remembering.

Erica exhales a shaky breath, "Me too. I wish I could've been with them for just five more minutes. The last thing I told them was a lie. I said I was going to the lacrosse game, I kissed them on the cheek, and left." Tears begin to flow from the girl's eyes.

"That's the worst isn't it? When they're gone, you think of all the things you should've said. How much you love them, how much they mean to you… And now we don't get another chance." Camilla's tears fall heavier now.

The two girls sit in silence, thinking about their sorrow filled lives.

Within a minute, Derek walks in and out. He glances at the girls who try and hide their tears, but he notices. He doesn't say a word as he heads out the door, anger on his face and his fists clenched.

"Have you guys talked at all? I know Isaac said your relationship was complicated…" Camilla asks.

"Not much. He comes and checks on me every once in a while. But I don't know what to say, and neither does he. It's a hard place to be in. He was there with me when I found them, and he stayed with me all night," Erica says, wiping a tear as she remembers. "He held me in his arms and just let me cry. I knew he wanted to go find The Root and rip him to pieces, but I needed him."

Camilla smiles, "It's good you had him. I had my dad, but we were both so torn apart, we couldn't look at each other without breaking down again."

"I bet that was hard. I'm grateful for Derek, but he's just so angry all the time about it, and I think he feels a bit guilty…" Erica tells her.

Before they can continue talking, Isaac returns with bags of food.

"I am back, bow down to me before—" he stops when he realizes the two girls are crying.

"Oh no. Hey guys, shit—"

"We're fine," Erica laughs, wiping her face with her sleeve. "Just a little dead-parent talk that we both needed." Camilla nods, wiping her face too.

Isaac sits next to Camilla and hands Erica one of the bags, "Well, I'm a part of that club too… but let's not get into that. How about I can just enjoy a nice, greasy meal with my girls, okay?"

"Okay," they answer simultaneously.

"No more tears?"

"No more tears," they say at the same time again.

"Alright," Isaac says, satisfied. He wraps his arm around Camilla and kisses her on the head right before opening the bag in his hands and pulling out the food.

\-------

Derek slams the door to his Camaro when he arrives at the Hale house, anger pulsing through his veins.

When he gets to the door he kicks it open, already in wolf-mode.

"Come out you bastard!" he growls. "I know you're here."

He kicks a chair in his way and enters what used to be the living room. He hears a noise and turns to the direction it came from.

"Come out and face me," he roars.

Instead of The Root stepping out of the shadows, Boyd does.

"Long time no see, Derek," he says smirking.

"Boyd what the hell are you doing? You do know your "master" killed Erica's parents? He's destroying what used to be your pack!"

"Yeah, and I'm helping him," Boyd replies, still smiling.

"Why? What did we do to you that you're turning your back on your true friends?"

"True friends wouldn't have let me die!" Boyd yells. In a flash he transforms and moves towards Derek.

Derek anticipates his moves, and maneuvers out of the way. When Boyd turns around, Derek strikes, nailing him in the stomach.

Boyd barely reacts, and charges at him again. He misses, and Derek's swipes his claws against Boyd's face, slowing him down a bit.

The two got at it for minutes, but Derek obviously has the upper hand. He gets a strong hold of Boyd and begins punching his face over and over. The anger flows through him and he doesn't stop. Boyd struggles, but as he continues to get his, he becomes weaker.

All of the sudden, Malum appears in the room, and in a strong voice, he yells, "Let him go now, or I'll kill more than just her parents."

Derek stops, his heart racing. He thinks, and decides to oblige. He yanks Boyd's body up and throws him into a wall where the younger boy collapses in a heap.

"Now is that any way to treat an old friend?" The Root asks, still in the form of Erica's father, blood still soaking his clothes.

"He's no longer a friend, he's proven that," Derek huffs.

"That's right," The Root agrees. "Now, things might be different if I wasn't mostly controlling him, but oh well. Details, details."

"Why are you doing this?" Derek asks.

"Well, I was just enjoying my time in the real world until you decided to break my bond. That wasn't very nice of you. I wasn't causing any harm. Plus, I thought you would be happy I brought blondie back," The Root answers.

"She wasn't fully herself, just like Boyd."

"I see your point…" Malum says. "Oh, and if you're thinking you're going to break his bond too, you're dead wrong. I took care of that. I won't make the same mistake twice, I just wasn't counting on a little know-it-all giving away all the answers." The Root frowns.

"Any who, I'd better run, I have plans for more destruction since you decided to start a war," The Root says.

"We didn't start anything, we just wanted all of Erica back."

"Tomato, tom-ah-toe," Malum says, waving his hand. "See you soon!"

Derek watches as The Root snaps and disappears.

\-------

Lydia skates to the sideline and clutches at her chest, a strange fullness coming over her.

"Are you okay?" Stiles asks, skating up beside her.

She nods her strawberry blonde head, "Yeah, I just… I feel like I need to cough or something."

"Is she alright?" Allison asks as she and Scott come up to the duo standing beside the bar. Allison's nose and cheeks shine red due to the cold of the skating rink.

"I'm fine, I just… have this really weird feeling in my chest. I don't know what it is."

Scott suggests, "Maybe you swallowed funny?"

"Maybe," Lydia says as she tries to clear her throat, her fingers wrap around the small L pendant on her necklace.

Allison begins to skate off, "I'll go get you a water."

"No, it's fine I…" then as if floodgates had been opened, Lydia lets out an earthshaking wail, "AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

 -------


	9. Just Shoot Me (3x21)

All the boys sit in the locker room, it is clear that some of them are fighting off tears and, rather reluctantly, Coach Finstock addresses the issue, "I know that this isn't the first loss of a teammate we've had. Last year with Daehler and now with…" the man turns his back to the team and brushes away a tear, "with Greenberg."

"Are you crying coach? You hated Greenberg," Stiles says in protest.

Finstock points at Stiles, "Is that a joke, Stilinski? I loved Leroy."

"Yeah and thanks to Leroy," Jackson whispers to Scott, "Lydia screamed like a banshee and ruined my study date."

"You say something, Jackson?" the coach asks and upon doing so the rest of the boys in the locker room turn to stare at their co-captain.

"Just that… uh… we lost not only a great defender, but also a great guy," Jackson replies quickly.

The dark haired coach nods his weary head, "Truer words have never been spoken. Our game this Friday has been postponed due to our loss, and on top of that I've decided to cancel practice for the rest of the week… now if any of you boys need to talk to someone feel free to speak with Ms. Morell or myself."

With those last words coach turns around and goes into his office and as the door closes the boys can hear sobs on the other side of the door.

"He literally spent three years treating Greenberg like crap and now all of a sudden he's the kid's number one fan," Stiles says to the two werewolves in front of him, "sort of messed up."

Scott shrugs and pulls his backpack from his locker, "He's grieving. Cut him some slack."

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Lydia taps her pink mechanical pencil furiously against the table top in chemistry while Mrs. Trumbolt talks about hydrogen bonds, finally reaching her limit she asks Isaac, "Do you hear that?"

The boy shakes his head, "I don't hear anything… why what do you hear?"

"It's like a banging or something… I… I can't quite put my finger on it," she turns around and looks at Nolan and Jackson, asking those two boys, "can you hear that?"

"No… should I hear something?" Nolan counters.

Jackson's brow furrows, "What is it Lydia?"

"It's like someone is slapping something or… it's a bang. Like a big bang."

"Pretty sure that's a TV show," Isaac interjects.

Lydia glares at him, "I didn't realize it was comedy hour."

Isaac nods his head and returns his focus to the teacher, tugging the sleeves of his sweater over his hands, as Lydia continues to talk to Jackson and Nolan.

"What if this is a banshee thing? I've heard things before… what if I'm hearing the sound of some impending disaster?"

Nolan leans forward, "Banshees are harbingers of death. That's why you scream every time a body is about to appear… I guess it's possible that you're hearing something bad that's going to happen."

"Great," Lydia sighs, turning back around, "now not only do I have a supersonic scream I also have hearing to match it. That's fantastic."

Across the aisle, Scott whispers to Allison and Camilla, "She's hearing a banging sound and Nolan thinks it's some residual banshee thing."

Stiles leans back in his seat as he chews on his pen, wondering what Lydia could possibly be hearing. He thinks back to the night at the Glen Capri Motel when the girl had said she'd heard a couple making a suicide pact and a baby being drowned.

Finally the dark haired boy says, "Whatever it is, it's definitely of the not good variety."

"Banging like someone banging on a door or…" Allison trails.

"Or like the bang of a gun," Camilla finishes, as the four kids look over at Lydia who resumes tapping her pencil on the desk.

\-------

"I've got to go to the bathroom," Lydia says to Stiles, "so go grab a table and I'll be right there."

The red haired girl hustles towards the girl's room as Stiles continues on into the cafeteria, upon entering the dark haired boy spots Camilla and Isaac sitting at their usual table, chatting about something funny from the looks of it.

Stiles heads over to the couple just as they get up.

"Woah woah woah," he protests once they reach where he stands, "where are you kids heading off to? The party just arrived."

Camilla tucks her hair behind her ear before saying, "We were talking and I mentioned I played piano and Isaac wants to hear, so we're headed to the music room. You can come if you want."

"No you can't," Isaac corrects, grabbing his girlfriend's hand to lead her out of the lunch room.

The boy watches as Camilla's black skirt flies behind her as she and Isaac exit the cafeteria.

With a sigh, Stiles continues on to the table and sits down just as the tall boy enters. Not noticing anything unusual, he pulls out his PBJM and then his pudding cup. Looking up just in time Stiles spots him and watches as he shoves a lunch lady out of his way. At first glance, Stiles isn't sure who it is, but when the gun is pulled from his pocket and a shot is fired he knows exactly who he's looking at.

Stiles watches as Matt pulls the trigger again, this time hitting a short blonde girl right in between the eyes. The boy watches in horror as the girl crumbles to the ground like a puppet with the strings cut. It's then that reality sets in – as screams fill his ears – that he sees what's right before his eyes. Matt's been recruited by the Root and this minion means business.

Tables are being tossed and everyone is running out of the cafeteria. Stiles is quick to collect his backpack and run as well, abandoning his sandwich and pudding cup, he runs as fast as he can to the door, stopping only to grab the hand of a freshman boy who'd fallen so as to help him up.

"He's got a gun!" one boy yells, while another screams, "Move faster assholes!"

"Quick!"

"I don't want to die!"

"No way am I dying in school!"

"RUN!"

Scott and Allison are slowly proceeding to the lunch room when they see the crowd of students running towards them. Before Scott can ask what's going on when the principal's voice comes over the intercom to say "There is a shooter loose in the building. All students are to seek cover and remain there until the premise is clear."

Just then there are two more shots and Allison lets out a shriek as she sees two boys fall to the floor – blood pooling around their heads. Scott has a hold of her hand and is pulling her to the supply closet just beside the vending machine before she can do anything to try and help the boys.

She knows it's pointless though, they were dead the second they hit the ground.

In the bathroom Lydia keeps a hand over her mouth to stop herself from screaming as she balances herself on the toilet seat. Tears are beginning to slide down her face and it soon dawns on her what the banging noise she'd been hearing all morning had been.

Her screams slow and it's now that she knows the screams hadn't been from horror, but had instead been because of her banshee identity. She'd been screaming because bodies were beginning to pile up.

\-------

Isaac and Camilla crouch beneath the piano in the music room wrapped in each other's arms. Tears slide down Camilla's face as she shakes from fear. Isaac holds on to her, never wanting to ever let go.

"The banging noise Lydia heard…" Camilla says shakily in a whisper.

Isaac shushes her and nods his head, understanding that the girl had foreseen, or foreheard, the shooting. He wraps his arms around Camilla tighter as she buries her face into his chest.

Before the two had crawled under the piano, he had tore off the metal leg of a chair and put it through the door handles, stopping anyone from getting in. Well, anyone with human strength, that is.

Isaac draws in a shaky breath as he hears something with his wolf senses. Footsteps in the hallway. His body tenses even more as they get closer.

"What is it?" Camilla asks, frightened. Isaac doesn't answer, so she says, "They're coming. Aren't they?"

More tears pour from her eyes and Isaac leans down to kiss her forehead then her lips.

"We're okay, baby. I would never let anything happen to you. You're safe with me. I promise," he tells her kissing her again.

From their view under the table, they can see the door clearly. Their eyes are glued to the windows in the door, waiting for the maker of the footsteps to walk by. Or even look in.

Camilla can hear the echoing footsteps now and she shakes even harder, whimpering a little bit.

"Baby, you gotta calm down. Your heart is going so fast. Just breathe, Camilla," Isaac whispers into her ear, his hand rubbing circles on her back. "You're so strong. You can get through this. We're going to be just fine, baby. You just need to breathe, Camilla."

The girl nods as more tears fall, "How many do you think are dead?"

"I don't know," Isaac answers truthfully, although he heard four gunshots.

Suddenly, the two see a figure in the window. Camilla continues to shake and cry, and Isaac just holds her tighter. They both hold their breaths as the figure walks by and disappears from the sight of the windows.

The two slowly let out their breaths, but don't move, knowing the shooter is still a threat.

"Did you see who it was?" Camilla asks, almost inaudibly.

"No. But I think it's a guy."

"Who would do this?" she bows her head down and breathes in and out, trying to calm herself.

Before Isaac can answer, the figure is back at the window, this time looking into the room.

Isaac had shut off the lights, so the shooter struggles to see into the room. He tries entering the room, but to no avail.

Without a warning, the boy pulls the gun up to the windows and fires. Camilla jumps and burrows even farther into Isaac's arms. He holds her tighter, ready to attack if he needs to.

The shooter clears the glass that is still in the frame, and the shattering of the glass frightens Camilla who is trying her best not to make a sound by covering her mouth with her hands.

The shooter reaches down and tries to open the door, but he realizes that it somehow is blocked by the chair leg. Frustrated, he punches part of the door. He begins to leave, but notices something in the room and stops. He glues his eyes on it and tilts his head.

Camilla, shuts her eyes, sure he had spotted them. She waits for the sound of the gun firing, the seconds feeling like hours.

But it never comes. Instead she hears footsteps walking away from the room, and back where they had originally came from.

She opens her eyes and looks at Isaac, who looks like he had seen a ghost.

"D-did he see us?" Camilla asks.

Isaac shakes his head.

"Could you tell who he was?"

Isaac nods and painfully swallows before answering, "It was Matt. The one who is supposed to be dead."

\-------

Stiles sits with his back against a cold locker in the locker room as tears fall from his eyes. He quickly wipes them away and pulls out his phone to text his father.

He begins typing the message when he hears the door open and he freezes, fear consuming him.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," Matt's chilling voice calls, making shivers go down Stiles' spine. He dims the light on his phone and nearly drops it because his hands are shaking.

He can barely see the screen in the dark room and he tries to type out the message to his father quickly, but his shaky fingers won't allow it. Matt's footsteps get closer and Stiles tries to see through his tears to look at his phone screen.

It's then that Matt turns the corner and spots Stiles sitting.

He cocks his head and smiles, "Olly olly oxen free," he sings, lifting up the gun and pointing it right at Stiles.

With his phone hidden behind his back, all Stiles can do is beg.

"Please, Matt. I know he's controlling you… But try and break free… You have to have some humanity left in you," he pleads, tears falling freely, his voice cracking.

Matt just smiles at him, the gun still pointed directly at his head.

"Please," Stiles whispers.

Matt lowers the gun and walks a bit closer. Stiles tries to scoot away but Matt just laughs.

"You can't run. You can't hide. I'll always find you. Always."

Just then, he pulls the gun back up and fires not once but three times. Stiles' ears ring and his body jolts.

At first he didn't think he got shot, that somehow Matt had missed. But when he looks down, he sees blood soaking his t-shirt. He pulls one of his hands to touch it, and when he pulls it away, it is covered in red.

His vision blurs as he sees his red hand in front of him. His body can longer support itself and he crumples backwards, shaking.

Matt walks over and laughs, his smile haunting Stiles.

The shooter shakes his head and walks away, leaving Stiles to bleed out.

Stiles can feel the pain, but he tries to ignore it as black spots fill his vision. He thinks about his phone and forces himself to pull it out.

With the best effort he can, he finishes the message to his father, adding SOS to the end. He hits send right as the world fades away and everything goes black.

\-------

"Camilla and Isaac are in the music room," Allison whispers to Scott as she slides her phone back into the pocket of her jeans.

"Okay, that's two," Scott whispers back, "but there's still four people unaccounted for."

"You still haven't gotten a hold of Stiles?" she asks.

Scott shakes his head.

There's a buzzing sound and Allison yanks her phone out of her pocket, "Its Lydia. She's in the bathroom."

"Three safe… woah where are you going?" he asks as he grabs her arm to stop her from opening the supply closet door.

"Lydia's two doors down," Allison says, "I'm going to go get her and bring her back."

"No way. You can't do that," Scott protests.

"She is my best friend. I'm not going to leave her all alone when I know exactly where she is."

Scott chews his lip and watches in defeat as Allison slowly opens the door. She peeks her head out and looks around the deserted hallway. Books and papers have been flung about and the dead boys still lay on the floor. Bloody foot prints trail down the hallway as people had unknowingly stepped in their blood.

The girl looks down at her hand suddenly and sees Scott's fingers have been laced with her's.

"I'm going with you."

The pair hurries down the hall and to the restroom in what feels like no time at all, which Allison credits to the adrenaline.

Still holding Scott's hand, Allison pushes open the bathroom door and enters hesitantly. She peers around, bending down so that she can see under the stalls. When she doesn't see Lydia's familiar leather boots she stands up straight and asks, "Lydia?"

The stall closest to the handicapped stall shoots open and Lydia rushes over to her friends. Allison drops Scott's hand and wraps her hands around the red haired friend.

"Thank god," Lydia sobs into the shoulder of Allison's cardigan, "thank god, thank god, thank god."

"You're okay," Allison insists.

Trying his hardest not to ruin the moment, Scott clears his throat and says, "We should get back to the closet. Definitely safer there than here."

The girls nod their heads in a nearly perfect unison and hold hands, Allison stretching one out to grab on to Scott's. With that somewhat comforting connection made, the three teens make their way out of the bathroom and down the hall toward the supply closet.

Lydia's breathing is jagged from crying and her sharp intakes of breath don't help keep Allison and Scott off the edge.

The silence around them is almost painful, they all feel as though the shooter will come from around any corner and take them out. Bang, the sound in Lydia's head goes off again and it catches her so off guard that she trips and brings Allison down with her.

"I'm sorry," the strawberry blonde whispers.

Allison smiles weakly and get herself up, pulling Lydia up behind her, "It's no problem."

There's a laughing coming from somewhere and when Lydia first hears it she isn't sure it's real. "Do you hear that?" she asks her friends.

The two other kids look around and it's Allison who spots the source of the laughter and asks hesitantly, "Matt?"

"Surprise, bitch," the brunette boy smiles as he points the gun at her, "Bet you thought you'd seen the last of me."

Without warning Lydia's mouth falls open and a wail escapes her lips. As the scream draws to a halt, Matt is quick to comment.

"What the hell was that?" he asks, "Screaming like a fucking banshee. You're going to spoil all my fun."

Lydia stands and gently sways from side to side, completely out of it. Her expression is blank and her stare is glassy. Faintly, you can hear her whimper before she falls back and is caught by Allison. The dark haired girl smoothly sinks to the ground with Lydia in her arms.

\-------

Nolan sits in the nonfiction section with his knees drawn to his chest. He can feel the tightness in his chest and knows his body is doing its best to keep off a panic attack. His fingers thrum against the carpeted floor of the library as he waits for someone to come around the corner and say "Just kidding about the shooter thing."

"You alright?" Jackson asks as he comes to sit down beside his friend.

"I would say no, but that doesn't seem like a sufficient enough answer," Nolan replies, swallowing hard. "I think my head is going to explode. I mean this is wrong on so many levels."

Jackson raises an eyebrow, wordlessly asking Nolan to elaborate.

"I'm the weird kid. I always have been. Even in Springfield, I was the weird kid. I mean my dad teaches occult and my mom's a registered loon… and I listen to weird alternative music and I dance by myself in my bedroom. I stay up until three in the morning watching Grey's Anatomy… I've been drinking coffee since before I could ask for creamer. I mean, my pets are named after old celebrities for crying out loud," the boy looks into Jackson's worried eyes, "I'm the boy in the back of the class who no one wants to talk to out of fear of catching the bizarre."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because it's the end of the world, dude. It's apocalypse now, its doomsday. There's a shooter running around the school playing Call of Duty: Beacon Hills. And I'm in the middle of having an existential crisis where I'm seeing now that I've spent sixteen years of my life being some big ole weirdo… I don't want to die like that."

"Nothing that you told me seems so weird," Jackson replies, "maybe it's because I live here, in a town where werewolves and banshees and roots of evil come to hang out, but you don't seem all that weird to me."

Nolan lets his legs slide flat to the ground and seamlessly lets his head fall to rest on Jackson's shoulder.

"You're not going to die today," Jackson insists.

After a moment of silence, Nolan says flatly, "My cat is named Charlton Heston and my dog is named Jane Fonda by the way."

Tears swiftly begin to slide down his face as he stares straight ahead at his blue converse.

Jackson chuckles and places his head on top of Nolan's, "That's funny."

"Do you see what you get for eating lunch with me?"

Jackson places his hand on top of Nolan's and squeezes it, "I get to learn about the cool, cute new kid. That doesn't seem so bad."

The boys are silent as they sit on the hard floor of the library hoping to avoid the shooter. At intervals Jackson's thumb strokes Nolan's hand and it comforts the boy. Nolan lets out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and then begins to speak.

"I really like you, Jackson," he says moving his head off the boy's shoulder to lock eyes with him.

Jackson nods, "I really like you too…"

The boys begin to move closer together, a heat rising between the pair that neither one can quite put their finger on. Nolan begins to blush and shuts his eyes - their faces are barely an inch apart when suddenly another gunshot echoes through the building as well as a ground shaking scream. They pull apart and Nolan yanks his knees back up to his chest and squeezes his blue eyes shut.

"Crap, crap, crap," he whispers repeatedly.

Jackson wraps his arms around the boy and says soothingly, "We're going to be fine, you hear me?"

"Promise?"

"I promise."

\-------

Erica is livid. With the news on in the background she paces the floor in hysterics while Derek tries to calm her down.

"Erica, there are three werewolves in the high school, I'm sure they can hold their ground. Everything will be fine," he says, holding his hands up and inching towards her.

"Fine? How can you say that? Innocent people are going to die. I know those kids, I've gone to school with them my whole life… And are you forgetting we have some human friends?" she shrieks, nearly in tears.

"No, I haven't forgot. But they have the advantage of having werewolves by their side nearly 24 hours a day. Everyone is going to be okay."

Erica stops pacing and looks right at Derek, "You don't know that. We don't know that this is just a random high school shooting. This is Beacon Hills. If it's not a hunter, it's some supernatural being."

"Erica…"

"It could be him," she says as tears begin to fall from her eyes. "He could kill them just like he killed my parents."

She starts crying and Derek rushes forward to comfort her.

"I can't lose anyone else, it's not fair," she wails into his chest. "He can't do this to me again!"

"Erica, we don't know it's him," Derek says, his arms holding the girl.

She pulls away, "Don't we, though?"

Derek looks at her straight in the eyes and tucks a piece of her hair behind her ear, "If it is, and if anyone dies, I promise you, I will kill him. And he will suffer."

"We don't even know how to kill him," she whispers, her voice full of tears.

"We'll find a way, I promise."

Erica turns away and runs her hands through her hair, "I need to go there. We… we could break in and get whoever it is. We need to stop them… I can't sit around and wait for my friends to die."

"Erica, you saw the news, the police are at every entrance. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't get us in."

Erica looks back at him and doesn't say a word, her eyes saying it all.

\-------

Allison screams as the gun goes off, falling to the floor with Lydia in her arms. She shuts her eyes, waiting for whatever was about to come.

She listens as she hears a body drop to the floor.

Her eyes open in a flash and she looks around the scene, expecting to see Scott's body lying bloody on the floor.

Instead, she sees Sheriff Stilinski rush over to her, his gun still drawn.

Allison's head spins and she faintly hears the sheriff calling her name. She feels a hand on her shoulder and she woozily turns her head to look at Scott, who she thinks is also calling her name. She holds Lydia in her arms and doesn't let go.

She looks away from Scott, wondering what just happened. She figures it out when she sees Matt's re-dead body lying on the floor, a single bullet wound to the back of the head.

She looks back at the sheriff who speaks into his radio. Everything fades in and out, and the last thing Allison sees, or thinks she sees, is Matt's body turning to dust right before she loses consciousness.

\-------

Lydia sits next to Stiles' bed, holding on to the boy's hand. Every now and then she brushes tears away with her free hand, but mostly she's concentrated on the hope that Stiles will open his eyes and smile at her again.

The hospital room is silent except for the beeping sound of the heart monitor and the occasional sniffle of any one of the teenagers in the room presently. Camilla stands wrapped in Isaac's arms with her face buried in his chest. Allison and Scott stand side-by-side not touching but clearly intertwined. Jackson stands beside where Nolan sits, his hands gripping the leather back of the chair tightly.

Scott's face is blank, but the absence of emotion is worse than if he were crying.

Outside in the hallway Sheriff Stilinski paces back and forth as he waits for the doctor to come and tell him the news. His face is twisted with worry and it's obvious to all who look at him that he wants to be anywhere but waiting outside of his son's hospital room. The sheriff looks around at all the busy people in the hospital and is slightly caught off guard when Derek and Erica arrive.

Erica rushes up to the man, the sharp heels she wears making a distinct clacking sound on the tiled floor of Beacon Hills Hospital.

"How is he?" the blonde girl asks Stiles' father once she reaches him. Her eyes dart to the room where she sees her friends waiting around the boy.

The man shakes his head, "I don't know. They just brought him out of surgery to remove the bullets… I'm waiting for Dr. Burke to fill me in."

"Oh my god," Erica says in shock as she hurries into the room where all her friends sit and wait.

Derek locks eyes with the man before him and says, "I can help… I can take away some of his pain."

"Scott and Isaac already did, but anything you think will help… I'd appreciate it, Derek," the sheriff replies before he turns around to see Melissa walking toward him. Derek is quick to enter Stiles' room then.

Melissa sets a chart down on the counter of the nurse's station and then says, "Has Dr. Burke been by yet?"

The sheriff shakes his head no.

"He'll be by any minute now, I'm sure of it," she says, placing her hand on his shoulder, "I'm going to steal Scott for a minute though. When you hear something, let me know."

Sheriff Stilinski smiles softly, "I will, Melissa."

She nods and then walks to Stiles' room and sticks her head in, asking for Scott and then – after seeing the man beside Stiles, hand on his shoulder – she asks for Derek as well. The two werewolves exchange a worried glance and silently follow the woman out of the room.

Scott's mom leads the men down a short hallway and then turns around to stare at them gravely.

"What is it, mom?" Scott asks worriedly.

Melissa pushes a strand of hair behind her ear, "Last night, when Leroy Greenberg's body was brought in I didn't have time to see it. I just signed the papers and watched while the people wheeled him to the morgue. But earlier today I went to check and make sure everything was normal… and, well…"

"What?" Derek urges.

"There was a marking on his body. The same design that I've seen twice before, that resurrection thing-a-ma-bob," she tells the two.

Scott looks over to Derek and says, "Explains how Matt was among the living."

Frustration crosses over Derek's face and without notice he turns to the wall and slams his fist into it, knocking a picture of daisies in a field off the wall in the process. He growls as he withdraws his hand from the hole.

"Yowza," Melissa comments.

Derek's eyes flash blue and Scott sees his teeth begin to expand. He's quick then to get his mom out of the vicinity.

"Derek, cool it," Scott insists. "You're starting to shift."

"I don't care," the older man says, "because of that son of a bitch, Root of all Evil, asshole we might lose one of our own. Stiles is just as much a part of this pack as I am and Malum has crossed the line by getting him hurt."

Scott crosses his arms, "So what do you propose we do?"

\-------

Derek's Camaro comes to a stop and Derek flies out of it and up the steps of the Hale house with Scott on his heels.

Derek bursts through the front door and yells, "Come out, you bastard!"

From a room in the back of the house, Boyd comes out.

"What the hell are you doing here, Derek?" he asks.

"Not now, Boyd. I want to speak to your daddy," he roars back.

"He's not home right now, you're going to have to deal with me," Boyd growls, extracting his claws and shifting. Derek and Scott do the same.

Boyd makes the first move, but he clearly underestimates Derek as his body gets slammed down into the floor.

He is quick to get back on his feet and he makes a move for Derek again, only to be interrupted by Scott who slams him into a wall.

Boyd shakes himself off and goes for the two, but Derek slashes him, opening a window where Boyd is off guard. That's all Derek needs as he slashes again and again, backing Boyd into a wall.

He keeps slashing and slashing and Scott watches. After a few more, he speaks.

"Derek, stop! You're going to kill him!"

Derek doesn't stop or even register that Scott has spoken, instead he continues to hurt Boyd.

"Derek!" Scott yells again. His attempt fails and soon enough the life leaves Boyd's eyes for a second time, leaving Derek with bloody claws.

He turns to face Scott, but before either of them can speak, they both hear the sound of clapping. They turn to the source and see The Root, still in Erica's father's body.

"Well done, Derek."

Derek growls and lunges for Malum who snaps and disappears only to reappear on the other side of the room.

"Now, now, don't you think Erica's father has been through enough?" The Root says with a laugh. "I sure showed him no mercy."

"Why did you bring Matt back you bastard? You killed innocent people!" Derek growls.

"Because I can. What don't you guys seem to get by that? I like to kill, it's fun. And now that you're on my bad side, I figured I should do something to upset you."

Neither of the werewolves speak, so Malum continues.

"And since you killed two of mine today, you're just going to love what I plan next. Ooh, I'm excited, it'll be so much fun. So much blood."

The Root smiles one last time before he snaps, disappearing from the house.

Derek and Scott change back and leave the house, noticing that where Boyd's body once lied is now a pile of ash.

\-------

 


	10. Edge of Seventeen (3x22)

Camilla's hair flows back and forth with each swing she takes. The sun is setting on the horizon and looks almost unreal. Her hands grip the cool metal chains of the swing as she flies back and forth. She closes her eyes and inhales the fresh air.

When she swings backwards, she feels strong hands push her forward, making her swing go even higher. Her eyes flash open and she turns around and sees Isaac smiling from the ground. She comes back down and this time, rather than pushing her, Isaac grabs her and brings her to a stop.

"Hey gorgeous," he says, his hands still on her. Camilla looks down at her lap, smiling. Isaac's hands vacate her body and he moves to stand in front of her.

One of his hands lifts her chin so she looks up at him, her eyes locked onto his.

"You're so beautiful," he tells her breathily. Camilla watches as he leans his face in closer, about to kiss the brunette.

Before their lips meet, Camilla hears a loud bang and her eyes rip open. Before her, she sees Isaac hunching over, his face contorted with pain, blood quickly soaking his shirt.

"Isaac!" she yells, pushing herself off the swing. She rushes over to him, but he grabs her arm and starts pushing her away.

"Run!" he yells, barely being able to get it out, his eyes focused on something behind her.

She turns her head and sees Matt standing behind the swing set, a gun in his hand pointed directly at her.

Behind Matt, The Root stands with a smile on his face.

"Shoot," she hears The Root say.

Camilla turns, but it's too late. She feels the bullet pierce her back and she collapses.

Her eyes flip open and she sits up quickly, her heart pounding. She hears a banging and her eyes widen. Her mind flashes to The Root, and she gulps.

"Camilla, honey? Are you awake?" Ron's voice calls into her room. Camilla relaxes and lets out her breath. She shakes her head at her silliness and calls back to her father.

"I am now. Come in!"

She watches the knob of her door turn and Ron enters the room. Camilla looks curiously at her father as she realizes he is holding something behind his back.

"Whatcha got there?" she asks, gathering her hair up and tying it just above the nape of her neck.

"Oh nothing, it's just the typical Saturday morning. Nothing here," he replies, grinning.

"Would it happen to be the keys to a brand new Mustang?" she asks playfully.

"Not quite," Ron tells her, producing a neatly wrapped gift from behind his back. "Besides, you've got Roxanne, who happens to be the best car out there. She's worked for you all this time, and she's got a few more years left in her."

Camilla laughs and takes the present, "True. I don't think I'm ready to give up Ol' Red anyways."

"Open it up," He urges her cheerfully.

Camilla, not wasting any time to spare any of the wrapping paper, rips into the gift excitedly.

She produces a small jewelry box, and grins up at her father before opening it. He nods and smiles lightly.

Camilla opens the box to reveal a gorgeous necklace. The chain was simple, and the main focus point was a shining gem.

"Topaz?" she asks knowingly.

Her father nods, "Your mother actually picked it out a long time ago. She saw it and knew you would love it. We always had it waiting for your 18th birthday. I wish she could be here to see you open it… she was so excited about it."

Camilla smiles solemnly for a moment, looking at the necklace, "I love it."

She pulls the necklace from its box and carefully clasps it around her neck.

"Looks perfect," Ron says quietly.

"Thank you, Dad."

Ron moves closer and kisses his daughter on the forehead.

"Happy birthday, sweetheart. Oh and before I forget, I wanted to give you something else…"

Camilla watches her father pull out a ring from his back pocket, and instantly, she recognizes it.

"Is that… Mom's ring?" she asks, nearly choking up.

Ron smiles sadly, "It is. I want you to have it now. You're 18, an adult. You remind me of your mother more and more every day. I think it's time I stop letting it sit in my medicine cabinet and let you have it. I know she'd want you to."

Camilla, feels the sting of tears in her eyes, and lifts herself from her bed to hug her father.

"Thank you," she whispers still holding him close.

He slips the ring carefully onto her finger and leads her into the kitchen where breakfast awaits.

For minutes, the two eat, not speaking as their hunger takes over.

Ron takes a bite of a piece of toast and looks at Camilla, "How are you doing, though?"

Camilla shrugs, "I'm okay. Everyone's kind of been there for each other since we're all going through the same thing."

"Are you sure you're up for staying over at Lydia's tonight? You guys can always stay here if you want…"

"Dad, I'm 18, I can stay at a friend's house for one night and I'll be fine," she assures him.

"I know. I'm just worried about you. And Chris told me that Allison is still having nightmares."

"She's been having them for a long time, though."

Ron sighs, "Okay, okay. You want to go, I get it. No boys over though, okay?"

Camilla smiles, "Of course, Dad."

Ron shakes his head and rips off a piece of bacon and chews on it.

"Oh," he says after a minute. "Before I forget, I wanted to tell you that Graham is coming into town later."

Camilla freezes when she hears his name, "What?"

"Yeah, he's on break from college for a bit and since it's your birthday, he wanted to stop by and visit."

Camilla doesn't say anything, so Ron continues.

"He's staying here tonight and possibly tomorrow, too."

Camilla, gathering the strength to speak, says, "What time is he supposed to get here?"

"Sometime in the afternoon, he told me on the phone yesterday," Ron answers, not noticing Camilla's fists clenching.

"Is Frank coming too?" Camilla asks.

"No, just Graham. It was kind of a last minute thing. But Graham did say that his father wished you a happy birthday, so make sure you call Frank later."

"Will do," Camilla says, anger radiating off of her.

 _Wonderful_ , she thinks to herself. _My ex-boyfriend just has to come visit, doesn't he?_

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Nolan sits at his desk reading _As I Lay Dying_ intently. His eyes scan the page before he flips it and sees that he's only got one chapter left before he reaches the end. Sighing, he sets the book down on his desk just as his dad enters the room.

"I've got something for you," the man smiles as he produces a small package from behind his back.

Nolan shakes his head, "I'm amazed you fit a pony into such a small box."

"Just shut up and open it."

With a roll of the eyes, Nolan takes the gift from his father's hand and opens it. Inside is a small cross necklace that the boy recognizes instantly. Nolan tenses, feeling the all too familiar pressure on the corners of his eyes as he peers at the small, silver cross that was no bigger than his thumb nail. He removes it from the box and quickly puts it around his neck.

"Dad, this is… this is actually really great. Thank you."

His dad nods his head and cautiously accepts the hug Nolan gives him, "It's not every day my son turns seventeen you know. I've also got another surprise for you… your mom is coming home today."

"Seriously?" Nolan asks, brightening up instantly, "You aren't just saying that because it's my birthday are you? Because that would definitely be low."

The man raises an eyebrow, "I can all but guarantee she'll be home tonight. Now, happy birthday Nolan."

\-------

Isaac digs into his bowl of cereal and glances at Erica who sits next to him.

"You want some?" he asks, his mouth full.

"I'm okay," she responds, slightly amused.

Isaac shrugs and takes another spoonful. After a moment, he speaks again, his mouth still full.

"Oh, hey. Are you coming to Camilla's party tonight? She really wants you to go…"

Erica looks over at him, her expression conflicted, "I don't know if I'm feeling up for it."

"C'mon, Erica. Everyone there will be grieving just like you. Need I remind you of the shooting earlier? Tonight's everyone's night to just be together, have fun, and forget about their troubles for a while."

"Won't it be kind of morbid then?" she questions pulling a face.

"I don't think so. I think everyone's just been bumming out all week, they probably just want to let loose for one night. Let some things go," he tells her, adding, "I know I do."

Erica doesn't answer, considering her options.

"You'll fit right in, I promise. We've all got sorrows. Some of those kids lost best friends. Some lost their feeling of safety."

Erica sighs, "Okay, I'll go."

"Good choice," Isaac says right as Derek walks into the room. "Hey, Derek, you wanna go to Camilla's party, too?"

Derek just looks at Isaac and shakes his head, moving into the kitchen without saying a word.

"Well, you'd be a party pooper anyways," Isaac yells after him, shoving another mouthful of cereal into his face.

\-------

Pointing with a perfectly painted fingernail Lydia says to Allison, "Hand me that box of streamers, please."

The dark haired girl is quick to oblige and hands Lydia the box. The strawberry blonde pulls out another roll of white streamers and begins to hang them along the doors leading into her house from the backyard/pool area.

"Not that I'm not excited," Camilla adds as she fills another balloon with helium, "but isn't this party kind of in poor taste? There was just a mass homicide at our school not four days ago and now we're out here hanging streamers so that I can celebrate another year of aging."

Allison shakes her head, "Don't be a spoil sport. This is exactly what everyone needs, it's a good distraction and it'll maybe make people the tiniest bit happier."

"Plus we've sort of been planning this shindig since the week after you moved to town," Lydia admits, "it started off as a surprise, but as you can tell it's no longer going to shock you."

Brushing some hair out of her face, Camilla sighs, "All I'm saying is that I don't want people to think of my birthday party as some form of us cashing in on grieving kids."

"It's not," Allison insists. "What we need, what everyone in this town needs, is some fun. If people remember it as anything it'll be a survivor's party. Just relax, okay? And try to remember that it's your birthday and that you're allowed to have some fun… even in Beacon Hills."

Camilla stands up from where she sat and walks the shiny black balloon over to her cousin, she hands it to her and narrows her gaze, "I know how to have fun, Armpit."

"I never tire of you calling me that, Cleavage," Allison retorts with a smirk.

Camilla stands taken aback, "You swore you would never call me that ever again."

"Sorry," Allison shrugs, taping the balloon to a pillar, "I'm an armpit. I don't have a brain."

Lydia rolls her eyes and begins to twist a curl around her finger. She stands back to take in her handiwork and smiles, "If you two children will stop bickering for all of five seconds, would you mind telling me how this looks?"

The two girls step back to where Lydia stands. Camilla is quick to put her hands on her hips and take in the sight of the streamers.

"Not too shabby," the birthday girl says eyeing the room. "Now if only there was some way to stop Graham from ruining my happiness."

"And Graham is…?" Lydia asks as she walks over to the balloon box and grabs a silver piece of rubber, sticking it on the helium tank to allow it to fill.

Camilla sighs, "He's my ex-boyfriend/my dad's hunter friend's son, and I was told this morning by my loving father that he's going to be rolling into town today for my birthday. Even though my exact words when we broke up were 'I hate you and if I don't see you ever again it'll be too soon.'"

"Maybe he'll come back gay," Lydia smiles as she ties the end of the balloon off and hands it to Allison. "That could be fun, heck; we might even get a show on E! if that happens."

"You aren't mad about that are you?" Allison asks her best friend as she tacks the balloon onto another pillar, "Because Nolan is actually a really sweet guy and you hating him is really going to be a bummer for me."

Lydia adjusts the collar of her yellow button down shirt, "No, I don't hate Nolan. In fact I like him a lot; he's one of the only other people in this group that actually reads… plus he's funny and in all of my AP classes. Am I thrilled that my ex is having lovey dovey feelings for him? Not exactly, but… whatever."

"So we have a girl who's ex is a werewolf, a girl who's ex is a gay werewolf, and a girl who's ex is an asshole hunter… we should get a show on E! now," Camilla states, shining light on their situation. "Why do you even care about SpongeBob SquareChin anyway?"

"SpongeBob SquareChin?" Lydia questions.

"She's sort of got nicknames for everyone…" Allison informs the girl.

"SpongeBob SquareChin is Jackson. Armpit aka Allison. Stiles is just Stiles because he already has a nickname and if it ain't broke don't fix it. You're Red Hot if that makes you feel any better," Camilla beams at her friend, "I like to call Isaac 'Sex God.'"

Allison rolls her eyes, "Even though they haven't slept together yet."

"And for the record, my hair is strawberry blonde. Not red," Lydia corrects, "And what do you mean why do I care about Jackson?"

"Aren't you and Stiles sort of… together?" Camilla asks.

Lydia lets out a choked laugh, "As if! What just because I held his hand while he was on his deathbed I'm suddenly promised to him? Ha ha, very funny. You Argent girls are just a barrel of laughs, I swear."

"Someone's awfully defensive…"

"Because you've got your facts twisted. Yeah, sure I like Stiles, but everyone likes Stiles. He's a likeable guy. He's got the Jeep and the sarcasm and the cute… puppy eyes… and he's my friend, okay? Let's just drop it. We need more balloons."

Without further conversation, Lydia heads into the house her dog, Prada, barking lightly at her owner's entrance.

Camilla chuckles, "She's got a huge boner for Stiles."

\-------

Hours later, there are teenagers galore, almost every one of them has a drink in their hand. Surprisingly, everyone is having a good time rather than focusing on their troubles.

Laughter floats through the air, mixing with the sounds of music.

In a small group stands Isaac, Camilla, Lydia and Stiles. Isaac has his arm wrapped around Camilla's waist, touching her bare skin due to her crop top. The birthday girl laughs when his fingers trace her skin and tickle her.

"God, I really want to be annoyed with you two, but you're too cute for me to do that," Lydia says a little irritably.

"Sorry?" Camilla laughs. Turning her attention to Stiles, she asks, "How are you holding up?"

The boy shrugs, wincing when he does, "I've definitely gotten better. This booze and the pain pills are really helping though." He raises his solo cup and nods at the brunette who laughs.

"Should you really be mixing the two?" Lydia asks, "I'm no pharmacist but I'm pretty sure it says clearly on the bottle 'Do Not Mix with Alcohol.'"

"Live and let live, Lydia," Stiles says over the music, moving his arm to put it around the girl's shoulders. At first, she tenses up, but then relaxes, feeling comfortable.

The group watches as a hipster-looking girl approaches them.

"Hey, Roxy!" Stiles exclaims.

"Hey guys," she replies, adjusting the glasses on her nose. Turning to the birthday girl, she adds, "Happy birthday Camilla."

"Thanks, Rox. I'm glad you came, I didn't know if people actually would…"

"We all needed it," Roxy says truthfully. "But on another note, I wanted to know if you care if I give a quick speech? I don't want to rain on your birthday parade, but it seems people are just stepping around the whole 'school shooting' pile of shit. Someone needs to clean it up…"

"Of course, Roxy," Camilla smiles. Isaac pulls her girl tighter to him and kisses her head. Roxy smiles at the show of affection and moves to step up onto one of the tables placed around the party area, careful to not step on any of the food.

"Attention please!" the girl yells from on top of the table. Gradually, everyone's eyes fall onto the short girl and someone turns down the music. Roxy clears her throat and begins.

"I just wanted to speak up for all the lives we lost this week. We lost some great people, and we'll never forget them. But today, today isn't for them. It's for us. We made it through the shooting. We survived. Our friends will live forever in our hearts, but right now, we need to live, because we're alive. So everyone raise your cups, and toast to those who are gone, but more importantly, drink for the ones who are still here. We need to grasp our lives, and keep living! What happened happened, but we made it through! So let's all drink to that!"

Roxy thrusts her cup into the air, and everyone repeats her gesture. After a moment, she throws her head back and drinks. Everyone does the same, taking back the liquid and washing some of the pain away.

"And now, I'd like to honor Camilla Argent. We all knew we needed to get out and have fun again, so God bless this girl for being born today! Everyone, raise your cups once again for one of the newest additions to our school, and drink to Camilla!"

Roxy repeats the raising and drinking, as does everyone else, even the birthday girl herself. When she finishes taking back the alcohol, she basks in the feeling of a warm sensation spreading from her throat to her stomach. She looks over at Isaac, and laughs again as she sees him gulping down his drink.

When he finishes he smiles at her and leans in for a kiss. Whistles come from the crowd, and the two pull apart, not realizing they were being watched. Isaac laughs and shrugs. He looks back at his girlfriend and without warning dips her down and kisses her passionately.

Cheers and whoops fill the air as they watch the couple kiss. When they finally pull apart, the music gets turned back up and the party goes on, this time with a little more happiness.

Roxy jumps down from the table and walks back over to the four.

"Thanks for letting me do that," she tells Camilla.

"No, thank you for doing that!" Camilla replies. "It was amazing. Just what this party needed!"

Roxy laughs and winks at her. She waves as she turns away to go join another group of people.

"Well," Isaac says after a moment, "my cup is empty and I need a refill. You want some more, babe?"

Camilla shrugs and hands her boyfriend her cup. He kisses her again, lightly this time, before he leaves.

"Well, I'm going to go check on everything," Lydia says.

"Do you need any help?" Camilla asks.

Lydia brushes of the girl, "No, no. It's your day. Have fun. Make out with your man." Turning to Stiles she says, "But you, you can come. You're helping."

"I'm kind of unable to at the moment," he reminds her.

Lydia groans, "Well, you'll do what you can. C'mon, cripple." With that, she sashays away, waving at a few people as she does.

"I'm not crippled!" Stiles calls after her. "I just got shot!" He shakes his head and follows after her.

Camilla laughs. She is about to go find Allison when strong arms wrap around her.

"You're back already?" she asks. "That drink line looked pretty brutal."

She turns around to face Isaac, but when she does, she realizes it isn't her boyfriend who is holding her. When she recognizes the hazel eyes, she immediately pushes him away, anger pulsing through her veins.

"Graham, what the hell?" she exclaims.

"What, you're not happy to see me?" he smirks.

"Not really, no."

"Oh, don't be like that, Camilla," he tells her, pulling a bottle of vodka from behind his back. "Besides, I brought you some booze. I know how much you like this stuff. I remember one specific time you had a bit too much and… what was it you did?" Putting his finger to his lips, he pretends to recall the incident.

"Go screw yourself."

"No, that wasn't it… Ah! I remember now! You—"

"GRAHAM SHUT UP!" Camilla yells.

"Woah, woah. Calm down, birthday girl. I'm not here to make you upset. I missed you. What do you say we go inside and catch up?"

"No," she tells him bluntly, crossing her arms.

"C'mon, I know how much you like to lick your Graham Cracker," he says seductively.

Camilla opens her mouth to respond, but Isaac joins the two, stopping her.

"Hey, babe. Who's this?" he asks, handing her her cup.

"I'm Graham, Camilla's friend from back home," Graham answers for her, thrusting out his hand to shake Isaac's. The two shake hands and Isaac smiles.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Camilla's boyfriend, Isaac."

"Boyfriend, huh?" Graham questions turning to Camilla, amused. "You didn't tell me you had a boyfriend."

"Well considering I haven't talked to you for almost a year, it makes sense that you'd be out of the loop," she tells him coldly.

Isaac, sensing something weird, says, "Oh, babe, before I forget, Erica said she'll be here soon so do you wanna go meet her? She doesn't want to walk in alone."

Taking and deep breath, she turns and smiles at her boyfriend, "Yeah, I'd love to. Let's go now."

Isaac turns back to Graham, "Hey man, it was nice to meet you. I'll see you around?"

Graham opens his mouth to reply, but Camilla cuts him off.

"Probably not. Graham can't stay long. He was just coming to give me this," she tells Isaac, grabbing the bottle of vodka from Graham's hands. "Bye, Graham."

Without another word, she turns on her heel and drags Isaac along with her.

"What was that about?" he asks, his forehead wrinkling.

"He's just a dick is all."

"I thought he said you were friends?"

"Not really. His dad and my dad are friends. Both hunters. So you might want to stay away."

Isaac's eyes widen as he walks with Camilla, "Yikes, now I understand why you were so dismissive."

Camilla doesn't answer, and the two stop walking when they spot Erica. Isaac waves her over and the blonde is with them in a few seconds.

"Hey, happy birthday, Camilla," Erica smiles.

"Thanks, Erica. You want a drink?"

"Hell yes," Erica answers, taking the bottle that Camilla had handed to her.

With that, they walk back into the main area and Isaac grabs three shot glasses along the way. Pouring the clear liquid into each of the glasses, he hands them out to the two girls and keeps one for himself.

"To…Um…" Camilla starts.

"To Camilla," Isaac says, smiling at the dark haired girl.

"To Camilla," Erica repeats with a smile. Camilla laughs and shrugs. The three clink their glasses and throw the vodka back.

Scowls fill their faces as they swallow the strong tasting liquid.

"Damn, it's been a while," Erica says.

"Same here. I think I need another," Camilla says.

Erica nods her head, "Round two!"

After they toss back another round Erica speaks again, "Where's Scott and Allison? They need to do a shot with the birthday girl."

"I think I'm good for a while," Camilla mutters, blinking ever so slowly.

Erica shrugs, "Well then they can do a shot with me." She smiles at Isaac and Camilla and walks away, leaving the two to giggle.

\-------

The music thumps loudly even inside the house drowning out the sound of Lydia's heels against the floor and Stiles' awkward shaky breath. He glances over at Lydia to catch the girl staring at him and just as they lock eyes she looks away.

"You look good tonight," Stiles smiles at the girl.

Looking down at her lacey green dress and then smiles back, "Thanks, new dress."

"It, uh, looks good…"

The song switches abruptly to something loud by Maroon 5. Catching on to this, Stiles begins to bob his head in time with the beat.

"Good song," the boy says.

"I love Maroon 5," Lydia agrees, "Is this One More Night?"

"Uh, yeah, I think so."

"It's a, um, a good one…"

The two sway about for a minute more before Lydia finally asks, "How's your gunshot wound?"

Stiles' brow furrows as he replies, "Its good. Scott and Isaac have both helped with the pain so it's just a little sore now. The painkillers help some too."

"Good, I'm glad you're getting better," Lydia smiles, "you know what, I think I'm gonna go and uh… oh wow, look there's Trina. I have to go ask her about the AP Stats report, I'll be right back."

Before the boy can respond Lydia has taken off, it isn't until the strawberry blonde is out of sight that he remembers Trina had transferred schools last year. He shrugs off Lydia's strange disappearance and then turns around, spotting Nolan against the wall swaying in time with the music.

Stiles begins to make his way over to the boy, looking for any form of human contact.

\-------

A few minutes and a lot of shots later the party is in full swing, and everyone is having intoxicated fun. Camilla and Isaac dance to the music playing. With their hands all over each other, they might have to move their dancing to the bedroom within a few minutes.

Camilla pulls away from Isaac and begins to dance on her own, hypnotizing Isaac and a few of the guys standing nearby. Her body sways and moves perfectly. She bites her lip as she moves and Isaac watches, mesmerized.

The song ends, and she moves back to him, laughing.

"Holy shit, babe," he says, the world spinning a little bit.

"You like that?" Camilla asks seductively.

"I like all of you… I just… I want to make a speech!" he says suddenly, his eyes filling up with joy. Nearby, Erica dances with a guy and laughs when she overhears. Scott, holding Allison's hand, leads her onto the dance floor just in time to hear Isaac's proclamation.

"Yeah! Go Isaac!" the Alpha encourages him.

Isaac smiles and clumsily gets up on a table. Camilla watches, laughter bubbling in her throat.

"Turn down the music! Hey! Everyone! Speech!" Isaac yells.

Eventually, someone does turn down the music and Isaac takes a deep breath.

"I just wanted to take a second to honor my beautiful, amazing, talented, amazing girlfriend, Camilla. You are the sexiest woman I've ever laid my eyes on and I'm so happy you're all mine. I love you and –" he stops when he realizes his words.

Camilla's jaw drops, but Isaac continues.

"Yeah! I love you! There! I said it! Everyone, I love CAMILLA! Woo!"

He finishes and jumps off of the table, stumbling a bit. He makes his way over to Camilla and when he gets back to her, he looks deeply into her eyes.

"I love you," he repeats just for her.

"I love you," she says back. In a fraction of a second, Isaac's hands are cupping Camilla's face and he pulls her to him. Their lips lock and once again, everyone cheers as the couple kisses. This time, however, they don't stop when they realize people are watching them. Instead, they keep kissing, forgetting people are even there.

The music turns back up and things go back to normal as the couple continues to kiss. They eventually pull apart, breathless.

"Wow," Camilla says, her cheeks red.

"Yeah," Isaac responds.

Erica walks up to them and puts her arms around both of them.

"You guys are so cute. I wish I had something like that, but the guy I like is too stupid to realize what he has right in front of him!" she slurs.

"You two talk, I have to pee," Isaac says, ducking under Erica's arm and leaving the two alone.

"He loves me! I don't know why!" Camilla laughs, drunk from the alcohol and the love.

"Because you rock, girl! Own it!" Erica tells her.

"So do you!" Camilla says. "We both rock!"

"Yeah! Now if only Derek would realize that!" Erica says, starting to dance again.

Camilla joins her and says, "You just need to make a move first. He's probably scared since you were just dead a while ago."

Erica laughs, "I was wasn't I?"

"You were dead!" Camilla laughs.

"I was!" Erica replies. Soon the two are laughing hard. Tears fall from Camilla's eyes as she keeps laughing.

The two are interrupted when a girl stumbling by spills her drink on Camilla.

"Omigoshimsosorry!" the girl slurs, wobbling as she tries to stand still.

Camilla blinks and looks down at her wet clothes, "Eh. Who cares, I'll just go wear something of Lydia's."

With indifference, the birthday girl makes her way to the house, passing by Scott and Allison who are dancing close enough together that the all "just friends" reasoning flies out the window.

Allison smiles as she pulls Scott closer, moving her hips to the catchy beat. He grazes his lips against her neck and pulls his head back up to smile at her. Allison looks up after a moment and sees Scott staring intently at her, studying her.

"What?" she asks playfully, wrinkling her nose from her smile.

"You're beautiful," Scott says over the music.

Allison blushes and turns her face down, a smile filling her face.

"I'm serious," Scott tells her, causing her to look back up at him. It's then she realizes a strange intensity in his eyes. One that she hadn't seen since they were dating.

Allison laughs, not sure what to do. She starts dancing and pulling away from him causing him to chuckle and shake his head. Allison sexily maneuvers through the sea of dancers, keeping her eyes on Scott. She crooks her finger, begging him to follow her.

Scott didn't need a signal, though, and in an instant he is moving as Allison dances away. Her look provokes Scott.

Eventually, she runs out of space, nearly hitting the table that Isaac had just made his speech on. She laughs a sultry laugh when Scott catches up to her and wraps his arms around her small frame.

"What are you doing to me?" he asks, pressing his lips to her forehead.

Allison laughs again and tilts her head up. Their faces were so close, Allison could see every feature on Scott's face.

In the heat of the moment, she pulls her hand up and traces his firm jaw, a part of him which had always attracted her.

He watches as her eyes trail from his jaw to his lips, then coming back to look straight at him.

"Allison… I want you…" Scott says, his voice coming out huskily.

Allison, knowing her effect on the boy leans her face towards his ear and whispers, "How badly?"

Without warning, Scott pulls her face to his and kisses her. Allison feels her body go weak.

When they pull apart, Scott is the first to say anything.

"I want you back in my life like you used to be. You're my anchor, Allison. You always will be…"

Allison stares into his eyes and smiles a small smile, "What are you saying, Scott McCall?"

"I'm saying, I want you, Allison Argent, to be my girlfriend."

Allison, not needing to answer, kisses Scott, a bit more passionately this time.

"Does that mean yes?" Scott asks when they break the kiss, leaning his forehead against hers.

"What do you think?" she teases, kissing him again. The two stay locked in each other's embrace, kissing and smiling.

\-------

Lydia's eyes scan the crowded room of kids until she locks eyes with Jackson. Ever so slyly she narrows her gaze and moves her finger to indicate that Jackson needs to come to her. With a sigh the boy obliges and begins to make his way over to her.

In less than a second he's in front of her and saying, "You summoned me."

"How do you feel about getting your cake and eating it too?" Lydia asks with a smirk.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Look, Jackson, I respect you as an individual so I'm going to cut through the wall of crap that surrounds you and get straight to the point: you have a thing for Nolan Hayes, and that's fantastic. Well, I've got a thing for Stiles…"

"Wait, you and Stilinski? Seriously?"

Lydia raises an elegant eyebrow, "You like boys now and you're passing judgment?"

"Right," Jackson nods, "you and Stiles. Great."

"Anyway, I'd really like to be spending as much time with Stiles as I can. And while I think its great our sweet, innocent Nolan is making friends with someone other than the librarian, I'd really like him to be focused on making you moan."

"Where are you going with this Lydia?" Jackson questions.

Lydia rolls her eyes, "Go over to them and tell Stiles to scram, maybe even send him over my way. Then you'll have your boy and I'll have mine. It's a win-win. All four of us are happy and maybe you get to find out if Nolan's ever read anything erotic and picked up a trick or two."

"Go and deal with your Stiles drama alone, alright?"

Not willing to take no for an answer Lydia decides to take fate into her own hands.

With a shove, Jackson is moving toward Nolan and Stiles who stand against a brightly painted wall laughing. Jackson watches as Stiles does a lame imitation of a light saber and smoothly interjects by coming in with a smile.

"Stiles, Lydia is looking for you. So get lost."

"Well, Nolan and I were kind of in the middle of a…" Stiles begins, but Jackson locks eyes with him and his irises flash blue for just a second, letting Stiles know he means business.

"I'm gonna go find Lydia," Stiles says with a nervous smile, "So, uh, Nolan may the force be with you."

Nolan laughs again, "And with you, young Jedi."

Ever so casually Stiles backs away, running into table behind him causing three cups to tip over and spill on the floor. He smiles at the people around him and then steps over the puddle of whatever was in the cups and goes on in search of Lydia.

"Sorry you had to put up with that," Jackson says, "you get Stiles talking about Star Wars and he doesn't stop."

"It was fine, really," Nolan tells him, "I actually really like Stiles. He's one of the few people in Beacon Hills who understands the weird and embraces it."

"You really aren't weird dude."

"Trust me; I've got seventeen years to prove that I am."

"Seventeen? The other day in the library you said you were sixteen."

Nolan looks down at his sneakers and says, "It's sort of my birthday today."

"No way," Jackson says with a smile, "that's so cool that you and Camilla share a birthday. Why aren't you celebrating more?"

"Because, well, because when I was eight years old my sister died… on my birthday. So now I'm not really down with celebrating it because it's just a big fat reminder, ya know?" Nolan says, taking his eyes of the boy in front of him to stare holes into the ground.

"Oh… shit," Jackson whispers, "I had no idea, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay; I don't expect you to know every detail of my life."

"What was she like?"

Nolan grips his red solo cup tightly and says, "Annalise was... she was wild. She didn't stick to the status quo, she was homecoming princess and captain of her field hockey team. She was wild, ya know? I wish I was more like her, I wish I didn't stick... I wish I was wild. Instead I play it safe, I walk the straight and narrow - not too wild."

"So stop sticking," Jackson states, "be wild. Go streaking in the park. Punch a werewolf in the face. Go get a tattoo or something. Come on, let's get out of here, my car is right outside - we can go find something crazy to do for your birthday."

A smile spreads on Nolan's face as he says, "Take me for a ride, Jackson."

\-------

Camilla smoothes the dress of Lydia's she had just put on, and admires her appearance in a mirror. Surprisingly, her drunk buzz had faded a bit and she was feeling less crazy. She reaches over and grabs her glass of water and chugs it down.

She turns and is about to go get more water when she sees a familiar dark haired woman in front of her, sobering Camilla instantly.

"Camilla," the woman speaks softly adding a foreign lilt to her name as she utters it. Camilla drops the glass to the floor, thankful when it doesn't shatter.

"Mom?" she cries out, not believing the woman before her.

"It's me, mija," Lola replies, lifting her arms to embrace her daughter.

Camilla is about to walk forward and hug her mother when reason flashes through her mind.

"Camilla? What's wrong?" Lola asks, concern crossing her face.

"Get. Out. Of. My. Mother," Camilla says, her chin wobbling.

"Camilla, darling, what are you talking about? You need to lie down, you've drank too much." The woman moves forward but Camilla backs away, anger on her face.

"Don't touch me, Malum. I know it's you," Camilla says squaring her jaw out.

"Mija…" the woman says sorrowfully. Camilla doesn't respond. After a moment, the woman before her sighs and shakes her head.

"Damn, I thought the drunkenness would play to my advantage. Oh well," The Root says from Camilla's mother's body.

"What do you want you bastard?" Camilla spits out.

"Wow, I thought you would like my gift. I brought your mother back to you on your birthday! I thought you would love it."

"We're going to get you, you know? I will do everything in my power to make sure you and your ghost ass or whatever you are goes back to the Other World. So enjoy your time, because you won't be here much longer."

"Ooh, I'm so scared," The Root says. Before either of them speak, they hear Isaac calling for Camilla from down the hall. "Well shoot, better scurry before your wolf boyfriend gets angry. Happy birthday, Camilla." With one last menacing look, The Root snaps and disappears right as Isaac enters the room.

"Babe! I've been looking for you everywhere! Why are you in here? Did you change? What did – " the boy stops when he sees the tears coming from Camilla.

Shaking him out of his stupor, a bit, Isaac rushes over to his girlfriend and brings her to him.

"Hey, what's wrong? Shhh, it's okay."

Camilla continues to sob and Isaac holds her to him, his hands petting her hair.

"C'mon, let's sit down," he says, pulling her over to Lydia's bed. Camilla sits down and starts to wipe her eyes.

"Babe, what happened?"

"Malum… he… he brought back my mother…" Camilla says, choking on her words.

"What? Like resurrected her?"

"No," she shakes her head. "Just her body. He used her just like Matt and Erica's dad and Paige and…" Camilla doesn't finish, her sobs taking over.

Isaac pulls her to him again protectively, "It's okay. He's gone. It's gone. I'm here."

"Will you stay with me tonight? I don't want to be alone," Camilla asks, pulling away and looking into his eyes.

"Of course I will."

\-------

Peter pushes open the door of the old Hale house and peers inside. He's not nervous exactly, although he feels adrenaline pulsing through him like it does when he is excited. He steps through the foyer and into what used to be the living room where he sees a thin girl sitting on the floor in a yoga pose.

"Surprised to see you here," the girl says, whipping her head around to sneak a peek at the older Hale, "I thought McCall's Pack had classified me as the big bad."

Peter chuckles before he leans against the doorframe casually, "I'm sure as hell not part of McCall's pack."

"So what you're an omega? That's rich."

"If you don't mind my asking, who exactly are you right now?" Peter asks, as Malum gets up from off the floor.

The short blonde girl does a spin, "I'm Jane Dixon, one of the shooter's victims. I guess seeing as how I'm not one of Scott's buddies I'm also not important. How messed up is that? Just because I wasn't quick to befriend the lacrosse team I don't matter? I matter."

"You're really committing to that body."

The Root shrugs, "I've got a lot of free time between resurrections. Sometimes I like to play pretend," the last words escape the girl's lips with a twisted smirk.

Peter walks into the room, his eyes glowing blue in the shining moonlight, "Can we cut to the chase, Malum?"

"Certainly. What can I do for you, Mr. Hale?"

"I'm sure you, master of evil, know well and good that what I want more than anything is to be the alpha again. The only problem being that Scott is in the picture, him and all his adorable, teen pals in fact. Point is, is that I'm interested in striking a deal."

Malum pushes some short blonde hair behind her ear, "And what kind of deal is that?"

"You help me take down the pack and regain my role as alpha and I'll happily be your minion, no need to go through that pesky resurrection cycle. Just tell me what you want done and I'll do it."

The two stare at each other a moment while Peter begins to wonder if he's made a mistake by coming here hoping that the Root of Evil would suddenly have a change of heart and decide to do something for the good of another.

"Alright," Malum smiles, "I'll help you if you help me. That seems totally fair. You do realize though that I can't kill Scott and his friends – I can do things to them, come in the form of dead loved ones, strip them of their typical werewolf sense and everything – but you'll have to do all the killing yourself… I'm sort of non-corporal. I was able to get into Grandpa Argent's head and got him to carve the triquetra into himself and then I got a homeless guy to kill that little girl... having Boyd was nice. Having him was great, but Derek ruined that for me."

Peter rolls his eyes, "I can kill. It wouldn't be the first time."

"Oh trust me, I know."

"So we have a deal then?"

"We've got a deal. And it just so happens that I've already got the perfect job lined up for your first day."

\-------

Danny hands Nolan a shiny ID card and smiles at the boy brightly, "If you want to get served, you're going to need this. Yeah, Jungle is kind of a crazy place, but they're actually pretty strict about the underage drinking thing."

"Thanks," Nolan smiles back, his eyes moving down to the fake ID. He smiles as he sees his name is now Matthew Grey, age twenty two. "Are you sure I can pass for this old?"

From the front seat the boy sees Ethan shrug, "I don't see why not."

Jackson, sitting in the driver's seat, turns around and smiles at Danny and Nolan in the back before he says swiftly, "Let's get wild."

The four boys are quick to file out of the car. The cold November air hits them as they hustle across the street. When Jackson sees Nolan shiver, he's quick to take off his leather jacket and give it to the boy. Nolan's face lights up as he accepts the jacket and before the auburn haired boy knows it the four of them are inside the bar.

Bad Romance by Lady Gaga plays loudly throughout the bar as multicolored strobe lights flash out on the dance floor. Men and drag queens alike dance like crazy, covered in glitter and sweat out on the floor. Although the music is pounding heavily, Jackson can hear Nolan's heartbeat pick up with excitement.

"We're gonna dance!" Danny shouts before grabbing Ethan's hand to lead him to the dance floor.

Nolan looks around as a drag queen with a fuchsia feather boa throws back a shot of some kind at the bar and laughs loudly at something a scrawny man beside her said.

"This enough of a ride for you?" Jackson shouts over the music, hoping Nolan can hear him.

The boy nods, "This is perfect, actually. Annalise would be proud."

Jackson and Nolan exchange a smile and then walk over to the bar, instantly grabbing the attention of the shirtless man behind the counter who smiles at the two boys and asks what they'd like to drink – only after examining their IDs.

"Tequila shots," Jackson answers before Nolan can say anything. "We need lots of tequila shots for the birthday boy."

Wordlessly, the bartender sets ten shot glasses on the counter and then grabs the tequila. He quickly tips the bottle over and allows the brown liquid to pour out, filling each cup and also dousing the counter in alcohol. He next grabs a shaker of salt and sets a small bowl of limes beside that.

Reaching to his back pocket, Jackson produces his wallet and asks, "How much?"

"Oh they're paid for, courtesy of that guy over there," the bartender says and points to a man at the end of the bar wearing a bedazzled t-shirt.

"You've got an admirer," Jackson says to Nolan as he pours salt onto the boy's hand so he can take a shot.

Nolan rolls he eyes and licks the salt off his hand, throwing back the tequila, and finally putting a lime in his mouth to chase the alcohol. After licking his lips to clean off any leftover lime juice he says, "Yeah right, I'm standing next to a Ken doll. No way was that guy looking at me."

Jackson throws back his own shot, following Nolan's lead perfectly before he laughs and says, "You're hot, dude. Get over it."

Thanking his lucky stars that the bar wasn't all that well lit, Nolan blushes before he takes another shot.

Over and over again the boys do shots and laugh before all the glasses are empty. Feeling slightly dizzy, Nolan beams at Jackson and places a hand on his shoulder, Jackson smiles back not fully understanding why the boy seems so happy.

"Oh shit," Nolan says as Chronicles of a Fallen Lover by the Bloody Beetroots begins to play, "I love this song. I love this song! Let's dance! You still owe me a dance from Halloween."

Jackson puts his arm out for Nolan to grab and the birthday boy is quick to grab it. The werewolf then leads him out onto the dance floor just as the bass drops and everyone around them jumps in perfect time with the song. When it slows, Jackson surprises himself by wrapping his arms around Nolan to pull him close and dance with him.

The two boys move slowly in the crowd as people continue to dance madly. It's a Saturday night and everyone is feeling alive.

Toward a corner of the dance floor Jackson sees Danny and Ethan kissing and eventually grinding on each other. Nolan's sighs happily and his breath smells like lime and mint from a piece of gum Jackson hadn't realized he was chewing. Jackson keeps his arms wrapped tightly around Nolan who mimics him perfectly. The boys cling to each other as people around them move crazily, but no matter what they stay swaying gently to the song.

Suddenly Nolan pulls back, causing Jackson to wonder if he'd done something wrong. He begins to ask when out of nowhere Nolan meshes their mouths together in a moment of heat.

Caught off guard at first, Jackson begins to panic, but quickly allows the kiss to continue. Both hearts begin to race as Jackson's hands glide up to either side of Nolan's face to hold him steady – the two stop moving completely, caught in the kiss.

It's Jackson who pulls away first and when he speaks, he's breathless, "Finally."

\-------

Erica stumbles into the loft. She was planning on heading right to her room when she notices Derek sitting on the couch looking directly at her. The anger was clear even through Erica's blurry vision.

"Sup," she says, turning away quickly and trying to make it to her room without Derek noticing her intoxication.

"Come here," Derek commands.

"You know, I so would. But I'm tired and I just think I'm going to go to bed. Night," Erica scurries to get to her room, but Derek uses his speed and cuts her off, grabbing her wrist.

"Erica," he says angrily. She slowly looks up at him and looks right into his glare.

"Derek…" she says unsurely.

"You reek of vodka," he states.

"Well people were drinking..."

"Were you?" he questions.

"Why do you care? You're not my father," she answers, trying to pull her wrist from his grip. Derek tightens his hand around her in return.

"Erica."

The blonde sighs, "Fine, I was a little. So what?"

"So what? Erica, The Root of Evil is running around and you know he has a vendetta against you. Getting drunk was the stupidest thing you could've done. I shouldn't have let you go since you obviously have no self-control."

Anger rushes through Erica and she yells back, "What the hell is your problem, Derek? I'm home, I'm in one piece. I had someone drive me home. I'm fine! After all of the shit I've been through, you'd think you would have a little sympathy and understand that I wanted to just forget for one damn night!"

Derek doesn't respond, but he keeps his eyes locked on hers, his grip still tight.

"Just because you can deal with death easily doesn't mean everyone else can!" she yells, wiping the tears from her face with her free hand, angry that she had started crying. "I was with my parents for a week and then I got to see them murdered! How in the hell am I supposed to be okay with that? How am I supposed to just forget? I can't!"

Derek still doesn't speak but when Erica pulls away, he lets her. Rather than going to her room, she makes her way to the couch and sits down, burying her head in her hands and sobbing.

"Every day," she begins in a softer voice, "I see them. The blood. I see The Root's evil face in my father's body. I see my mother lying on the kitchen floor. Dead. I can't get it out of my head, Derek. I just can't."

She cries even harder and Derek moves to sit next to her. He grabs her and pulls her to him. She feels his strong arms around her and she sobs.

"I lose everyone. I just wanted one night to forget it. To not feel the hole in my heart," Erica manages through sobs. "It's not fair."

"I know," Derek says, speaking for the first time since Erica started getting upset. "I know."

"Derek," she asks, lifting her head from his chest, "What am I supposed to do? I can't forget it… I thought it would get better, but it gets worse. I wish I would've stayed dead."

"Don't say that," Derek growls. "Don't you dare say that."

"Why? My parents would still be alive! It's all my fault!"

"No it's not. It's The Root's. And we're going to send him back. I don't care what it takes. I'll do whatever I need to do."

The two stare at each other, emotions running through both of them. Derek sees the hurt on her face and slowly he brushes some blonde hair behind her ear and moves closer

The man can feel her heartbeat increase and he knows she can feel his do the same and in an instant of blind impulse, he leans down and kisses her.

Their passion grows and the kiss becomes more forceful. Derek's hands roam over Erica's body, wanting to feel every inch of her.

She runs her hands down to the bottom of his shirt and begins to pull it up. Derek realizes her actions and takes it into his own hands, pulling away from her for a moment to pull his shirt over his head. The moment his shirt is gone his mouth is back on hers and he lifts her up to put her on his lap.

Erica grabs Derek's face and holds on, kissing him hard. She runs her fingers through his hair, pulling a little.

Derek holds her at the small of her back and moves his hands lower, making her want to be even closer to him.

Without warning, however, he pulls away and is off the couch, his back turned to her.

"Derek what the hell?" she asks, confused.

"You're drunk Erica. It went too far," he answers. Erica can hear the pain in his voice. She studies the muscles in his back and she thinks about what to say next.

She decides not to argue and stands up.

"Fine, I'm going to bed," she says walking away.

Derek doesn't follow her and when she turns around, he isn't watching her so, rather than going into her own bedroom, she goes into Derek's.

She doesn't bother flipping on the light, but she goes to his dresser and pulls out one of his shirts.

Stripping down quickly, she pulls everything off except her underwear and slides on Derek's shirt, the hem of which hangs dangerously low on her.

She smiles and makes her way to his bed, sliding into the soft covers.

She makes herself comfortable and waits.

A few minutes later, Derek opens the door and walks in.

"Erica," he says.

She doesn't answer, hoping her plan will work. Her head still feels dizzy.

"Erica, I know you're not asleep," he warns her. Again, she doesn't say a word.

Eventually he sighs and she hears him slide off his jeans. A few moments later he slides into the bed on the opposite side, careful not to touch her.

Erica listens to his slow breathing and flips over on her side to face him.

"Erica, what are you doing?" he asks, turning to look at her. She shrugs in response.

A small smile forms on his lips and he shakes his head, "Go to sleep."

Instead of obeying, she moves closer and kisses him. He obviously didn't expect it, but he kisses her back anyways.

Before it can get heated again, he pulls away slightly.

"Erica," he groans. "We can't do this. You're still drunk."

"So what?"

"So I'm not doing this. Go to sleep, okay?"

"Fine," she says, pulling away and flipping onto her other side.

She hears him laugh and after a few moments she feels him move over and pull her close to him.

He puts his arms around her and rests one of his hands on her hips.

"Nice shirt," he says into her ear, making her smile.

She relaxes and places her hand over the one of his that rests on her hip.

"Goodnight, Derek," she says.

"Goodnight, Erica."

\-------

At the same time, Camilla, almost sober, sits on Lydia's guest bed, brushing her hair. She waits for Isaac to get out of the bathroom.

When he finally opens the door and walks back into the room she smiles.

"You're sure Lydia doesn't care if I stay here tonight?" he asks, getting into bed next to her.

"It's my birthday, I can do what I want," Camilla says with a smirk.

"Well, technically it's not your birthday anymore…" Isaac teases, looking at the clock which told them it was a little after three in the morning.

Camilla frowns at Isaac who laughs.

"I'm kidding, babe. You can still do whatever you want. Especially to me," he flirts, pulling her to him and kissing her lightly.

She kisses him back but pulls away.

"What?" he asks, still smiling.

"I just… need to tell you something," she says.

His smile fades, "What, babe?"

Camilla sighs and says, "Graham… isn't just a family friend. He's my ex."

"What?" Isaac asks, raising his eyebrows.

"I know. I'm sorry I didn't tell you… He just… brings back a lot of bad memories."

Isaac doesn't say anything, but he looks at her expectantly, wanting her to go on.

"You know how I said his dad and my dad were hunting friends? Well, Graham was… kind of my mentor. He helped train me when my dad couldn't. And I don't know, one day we were training and he kissed me… and that's when it all began. We didn't tell our parents because for one he was older than me and also because they probably just wouldn't be okay with it. We were together for a long time, and then my mom started getting sick, and I was just a mess and he wasn't there for me like I wanted him to be and so we broke things off. Then after she died, I saw him at her funeral and he kissed me and we were going to meet after her funeral. But later I found out he had a girlfriend who he brought. So I said a few choice words and I hadn't spoken to him since."

Isaac processes the information and before he can speak Camilla says, "I'm really sorry I didn't say anything. I was just so overwhelmed and I didn't want to deal with it… I'm so sorry… I—"

Isaac interrupts her by kissing her suddenly, shutting her up.

When he pulls away, he says, "I don't care. I'm just glad you told me now. That was the past, you don't have to deal with him anymore, okay?"

Camilla smiles and nods, leaning in to kiss him again.

"Actually, I kind of do," she says after a moment. "He's staying at my place tonight and tomorrow too."

Isaac laughs, "Well, you're not going to. You can stay with me at the loft."

Camilla chuckles and snuggles up against him.

"You know I love you, right?" Isaac tells her.

"I was wondering when you'd bring that up. I figured you were going to just pretend it didn't happen…"

"And why would I do that? I love you, Camilla. I could never forget that."

"I love you, Isaac," Camilla responds. Instantly, their lips are pressed together and things begin to heat up.

Isaac, keeping his mouth on Camilla's rolls on top of her. He pulls away and tugs off his shirt hastily. Camilla follows suit.

He smiles at her and leans back in to kiss her neck. The brunette grips her boyfriend's back and closes her eyes. After a moment, his lips are back on hers hungrily.

They continue their kissing for a while, and Isaac pulls Camilla up and works on the clasp behind her back.

When he succeeds they go back to kissing passionately. Isaac pulls away and Camilla sees the pleading in his eyes.

"Are you sure you…."

Camilla nods and grabs his face, bringing him to her again. After they strip off the remaining clothing and kiss for a bit more, Isaac pulls away again.

"I don't have…"

"I do, in my purse," Camilla says breathlessly, pointing to where her purse lays.

Isaac smiles at her, "Miss Argent, were you planning on getting me in the sack this whole time?"

Camilla smiles back and pulls him to her again, kissing him even harder. She is the one who pulls away, leaving him breathless.

She whispers in his ear, "Go get it."

Isaac follows her commands and is back within seconds.

They look into each other's eyes, ready to show just how much they love each other.

\-------

Graham struts to his car, the sound his motorcycle boots make on the concrete is definite and the only sound around… at first. The boy isn't halfway to his vehicle when he hears the familiar heavy breathing of someone who'd been running through the woods.

A wolf is near.

Without hesitation the boy reaches into the inside of his jacket and pulls out a small knife.

"I hope that's you, Isaac," the boy whispers.

He stands firm, his heart pounding as he's ready for a fight. The heavy breathing is gone now, replaced by a rustling of leaves in the distance. Graham listens further, his muscles still tense and his heart still beating rapidly.

After a moment he gets up and proceeds again to his truck, keeping his knife firmly in hand.

A howl cuts through the air like an axe and Graham spins around just in time to see the werewolf come running toward him on all fours. Its eyes glow a bright blue as it lunges at him, snapping with its long teeth at his throat. Graham slashes at it and blood spills from the wounds he's caused.

The wolf howls again, this time rearing its head back before it ducks down and sinks its teeth into his throat.

Graham chokes on a scream as he can feel blood begin to pour from the bite. He watches as the wolf pulls away, its face returning to normal in the process. Blood now drips from the mouth of a man whose smile is illuminated eerily in the moonlight.

The man bends down slowly and whispers in Graham's ear, "The name is Peter, actually," before he puts his hands on both sides of the boy's head and snaps his neck, the cracking sound deafening to even the werewolf.

A gust of wind kicks up suddenly and Peter hears a short applause.

"Not bad," Malum says, coming up to the man in the form of a Hispanic woman he's never seen before, "I've got to say, I half expected you to chicken out, but I was wrong."

Peter wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, "I never go back on a deal."

"Well, that deal is locked into place now. You followed through and that won't go without reward."

\-------

Nolan and Jackson rush into the Hayes house still kissing. The front door is left standing wide open as Jackson pins Nolan up against a wall and smashes their lips together. The heat the werewolf feels every time their lips touch is indescribable and unfathomably satisfying.

The auburn haired boy gets his fingers on the snap buttons of Jackson's blue and red plaid shirt and instantly rips it open, revealing the smooth mounds of muscle beneath. Nolan lets out a sigh.

"Jesus Christ," he says looking into Jackson's eyes, "it's like you're airbrushed."

Jackson chuckles and kisses Nolan again, beginning to toy with the zipper on the boy's jeans, "Are we going too fast? I don't want to rush anything. If you aren't ready or whatever we can press pause."

"Jackson?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up and take your pants off."

The werewolf smiles devilishly and sheds his pants as Nolan pulls his t-shirt off and takes his own pants off the rest of the way. Both boys stand underwear clad now and in the blink of an eye Jackson has Nolan wrapped around him and on the couch.

They continue to kiss and the excitement they both feel is extremely evident. Nolan hooks his fingers around the waistband of Jackson's Calvin Klein boxer briefs and begins to pull him down when he suddenly stops and hauls himself off the boy, tossing a pillow on him.

"What, uh, what's going on in here?" a man asks from the doorway. Jackson looks up and quickly deduces that the man he's looking at is Nolan's father.

"Dad, I… it's not what it looks like. Actually it's exactly what it looks like… but, I swear it's not as bad as it seems," Nolan spits out.

Awkwardly, Mr. Hayes holds tosses Jackson's jeans to him, "You know when I said, 'Have a good time tonight,' you getting lucky wasn't totally what I had had in mind."

"Sir," Jackson says, pulling on his pants yet remaining shirtless, "this was all on me."

"I have the image of my son _on_  you burned into my mind forever, so believe me I know."

Nolan's face is burning red, "I've never wanted to die more than I do right now."

Nolan's dad tosses his son's jeans to him and throws Jackson his shirt. The boys dress silently, Mr. Hayes watching the whole time. When Jackson is fully clothed he reaches out a hand in hopes that Nolan's father will shake it.

"We're already pretty familiar," Jackson jokes, "but I'm Jackson Whittemore."

Staring at the boy's outstretched hand for a minute; the older man takes it and shakes it, "Marcel Hayes."

Embarrassed beyond measure, Nolan walks back out to the foyer and grabs his t-shirt, pulling it back on and taking a few deep breaths before he walks back into the living room. He stares at his father with wide eyes and hopes the man isn't mad.

"I'm so sorry dad," Nolan says, "I'm sorry to infinity and beyond. You weren't… uh…"

"Supposed to catch you?" Marcel finishes.

"Pretty much," Nolan admits, "I guess I forgot that you would be home. It's Saturday night and it's only," the boy looks at the grandfather clock against the far wall and sighs, "well, it's three in the morning. But I still forgot all the same."

Jackson clears his throat, "I think I should get going…"

"Not a bad idea," Marcel says flatly.

"Jackson, I..." Nolan begins, but is cut off when the lacrosse player smiles at him.

The boy says quickly, "If you aren't grounded for eternity or banned from contacting me, I hope to see you tomorrow. It was nice to meet you, Mr. Hayes. G'night, Nolan."

And just as quickly as he'd arrived, Jackson left.

Nolan now stood across from his father in a painful silence. His face had begun to cool down and his heart rate had returned to normal, but he was still terrified of what his father was going to say to him once he started on his usual roll.

"I'm not mad and you're not in trouble. I guess as long as you guys would've been safe there isn't much more to say," the man sighs as he crosses his arms, "I'm not totally thrilled about finding my son straddling his boyfriend? Or whatever that boy is to you, but no harm no foul."

The boy's jaw drops, "Seriously?"

"Do you want a punishment? Because I'm sure I can muster one up."

"No, no, it's just… I got off easy. I thought there'd be banishment and shame brought upon the Hayes family crest, but… use protection? That's all you got?"

Marcel nods, "Yeah, that's it."

"I'm going to go to bed now, before you have time to change your mind," Nolan scoffs, walking out of the room and into the foyer. Just as he reaches the steps though his father's words from that morning run through his head, "She's not here is she?"

Marcel comes out of the living room and looks up to his son, "No, she's not. They said they didn't think it was a good time. Maybe next month."

"You say that every month," Nolan sighs, heading back up the stairs.

"I miss your mother too," Marcel says to the boy as he continues on up the steps. It's clear though his words fall on deaf ears when he hears a door upstairs click shut.

In his bedroom, Nolan throws himself onto his bed, just as hot angry tears begin to run down his face.

"Happy birthday to me," he says quietly.

\-------

**A/N: Hey guys! Hope you've enjoyed the story so far! This was a super long chapter to make up for the chapters that weren't so long. To help you guys picture the other OC's we have a list of celebrities who we picture when we write: For Roxy - Taissa Farmiga, Graham - Sam Claflin, Marcel - Dylan McDermott, and Lola - Salma Hayek. Again, thanks so much for everything! Keep reading!**

 


	11. In The Sun (3x23)

Without bothering to knock, the dark haired girl pulls open the door to Derek's loft, thanking the man for refusing to lock the place. She steps into the bright living space and looks around, allowing her suitcases to fall to the ground with a loud bang. Clearing her throat she speaks.

"Derek? Peter?" the girl calls into the seemingly empty loft.

She steps down the stairs right in front of the door and onto the flat floor, her eyes scan the wall of windows as she allows the sense of nostalgia she feels wash over her.

"Peter's not here," Derek says after a moment, coming into the girl's view, "and while we're having family talk, maybe you can tell me what you're doing back here when I told you to stay in Argentina?"

The girl scoffs, "Well, after you left that werebitch Araceli tried to claw my face off and I realized I'd overstayed my welcome. Aren't you happy to see me, big brother?"

"Of course I am, Cora," the man says as he pulls his little sister into a hug, "I just wish you would've listened to me… for once."

Hugging her brother back, the girl asks, "What the hell is going on in this town? Erica is alive and you're requesting me to stay in Argentina with those asshole wolves. Spill the beans, Derek."

"I hope you've got some time," he says, "because it's a long story."

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Erica sits at her desk in Economics, waiting anxiously for someone she knew to show up. Everyone was on edge that day, seeing as it was the first time they were back in school since the shooting. It was also Erica's first time since her parents' death.

She takes a shaky breath and pulls out her phone, intending to text Isaac.

Before she can text more than "Where are", Isaac walks in, his arm lying lazily across Camilla's shoulders. He spots Erica and nods.

"Hey, how are you?" he asks after he sits in a seat near the blonde. Camilla does the same and Erica can see a bit of worry on her face.

"I'm fine. Everyone seems to be a little paranoid and sad, so we're one in the same," Erica answers, setting her two friends at ease.

"If you need anything, let me know. When I went back to school after my mom died, I was still a wreck. I was lucky to have friends who knew when to distract people or get me out of the classroom. So seriously, if you need anything at all, I'm your girl," Camilla tells her as she pulls out her notebook.

"Thank you," Erica gets out just before the bell rings.

Coach wastes no time getting into things and takes attendance quickly, jumping into the day's plans right after. The students are instructed to pair up, and rather than the obvious pairing of Camilla and Isaac, the dark haired girl sidles up to Erica.

"Want to be partners?" she asks with a gentle smile.

"Doesn't Isaac want to be with you?" Erica asks, looking over at the girl's boyfriend who seems to have already found another partner.

"He did, but I told him I wanted to work with you. So now he's got Molly to deal with," Camilla smirks, watching as Isaac looks over at the two girls and makes a face, indicating his uncomfortableness.

Erica laughs and shakes her head, "I never thought I'd see the day when Isaac Lahey was whipped."

"He's not whipped," Camilla laughs, nudging Erica gently. "He just loves me is all." Camilla looks back over to her boyfriend, the awe evident on her face. Isaac looks at her too, his face softening when their eyes meet.

"Yeah, he made that clear to the whole school this weekend," Erica laughs, remembering his speech.

Camilla turns back to Erica and smiles, "How did your night go? The last I knew you were feeling kind of lovesick."

Erica smiles sheepishly and tucks a blonde strand behind her ear, "Well… When I got home, Derek was sitting on the couch waiting for me. And he was beyond pissed. I tried to just go to bed, but of course, he had to chastise me." She rolls her eyes, remembering his anger.

"And then…?" Camilla eggs her on.

"And then we got into a screaming match, basically. But the next thing I knew, I was crying on the couch and then his lips were on mine…" the girl trails off, blushing at the thought.

"What?!" Camilla gasps loudly, earning her a stern look from Finstock as well as other students. "Details!"

"Calm down, horn dog. Before it got too heated he shut it down, using my drunkenness as an excuse to stop. But God, I wanted to keep going."

Camilla laughs, "And then what? You just went to bed with the feel of his hands all over your body, the taste of him on your tongue, and a tingling on your lips?"

Erica looks quizzically at the brunette and responds, "You read too many romance novels."

"Spill!" Camilla begs.

"Well, I didn't want things to really end so rather than going to my own room, I slipped into his and prayed he would join me, which he did." Camilla's eyes widen, wanting to hear more. "But nothing else really happened, he just held me and I fell asleep in his arms. But when I woke up, he was gone."

"Coooold," Camilla says, tsk-ing.

"I got up and he eventually showed back up, he claimed he had things to do, but I think he was just scared."

"Did you guys talk about it at all?"

"Yeah, a little. I asked where we should go from there and he said he didn't know. I told him I didn't either, so he told me to take time and figure out what I want, and that he would do the same. Our relationship would kind of complicate things, but it's not like we can just ignore what happened," Erica reveals, picking at the ends of her hair as she does.

Camilla nods, taking in the information, "Well have you made up your mind?"

"It hasn't even been a day!" Erica exclaims, laughing at the eagerness on Camilla's face.

"So what? You either want something or you don't. On Saturday you were all about being with Derek, why is there doubt now? He obviously wants you too, or there's no way he would've let things go that far. I think you should give it a shot."

Erica processes Camilla's advice and after a moment says, "Well what do you suggest I do? What if he decides he doesn't want anything, and I look like an idiot?"

"Don't give him the opportunity," Camilla says easily. "He's probably not expecting anything to happen any time soon, so catch him off guard. When you get home from school, don't waste any time. Right when you see him, jump on him. Don't give him any time to process what's happening. He'll be putty in your hands."

Camilla leans back in her chair, satisfied with her advice.

"You think it will work?" Erica asks.

"You'll never know unless you try it."

Before the two girls can continue their conversation, their teacher interrupts them and demands they get to work.

Isaac smirks at the two, teasing them just like they teased him earlier.

Erica pulls out a pen and begins her part of the assignment, her thoughts on Derek rather than market economies.

**_\-------_ **

Scott and Allison walk out to the lacrosse field holding hands. The two have been inseparable since Camilla's birthday party and they aren't worried to show their love in front of their peers. Scott leans in and gives Allison a soft kiss before pulling away to smile at her.

"You're so beautiful," the boy says.

Allison chuckles and brushes her chocolate brown hair out of her face, "You're too sweet, Scott McCall."

Scott squeezes his girlfriend's hand, "I love you so much. I never stopped loving you."

"I never stopped loving you either," the girl replies, "the whole time I was in Paris this summer I was thinking of you. I missed you so much, Scott. And this… holding your hand, kissing you, it just feels right."

Scott covers his mouth with his hand, "Oh my god… that was so beautiful."

"Shut up!" Allison says, slugging him in the arm gently.

The couple laughs as they reach the field. Scott sees his father standing beside Coach Finstock, talking intently. The dark haired boy is curious as to what his father is doing at school and is quick to express his concerns to Allison.

"I don't know," she says with a shrug, "but I've gotta go. Nolan and I are going into full on research mode; hopefully we'll find a way to get Malum out of this world. I'll talk to you later, okay? Let me know how everything with your dad goes!"

Scott nods as Allison plants a kiss on her boyfriend's cheek and then hurries away to her car, leaving Scott to stand by himself on the sidelines of the field in his practice gear. He stares at his father and Finstock who, upon noticing him, signal him over.

The boy walks over slowly, passing Stiles who sits in the bleachers watching the boys practice. Coming up to his father and his coach, Finstock shakes Rafael's hand and then walks away – allowing the man and his son to talk.

"What are you doing here?" Scott asks his father.

Rafael stares down at his son and says quietly, "We need to talk."

Scott nods and follows his father back behind the bleachers where they stand for a moment in silence before Scott can no longer handle the anticipation and asks again, "What are you doing here?"

The older McCall hands the boy a piece of paper and says, "I'm going to speak with your mother about this tonight and if all goes well, let's just say I hope you enjoy Virginia ham."

"Are these custody papers?"

"Now I know you're not going to be a fan of this idea at first, but…"

"But nothing," Scott says, cutting his father off, "I'm not coming to live with you. There's no way. Mom isn't going to let you relocate me halfway across the country! All my friends are here, I'm co-captain of the lacrosse team here."

Rafael nods, "I understand, but Scott this school isn't safe. A few weeks ago with the shooting and all the deaths – I can't risk you getting hurt and I know your mother wants you to be safe too. The private school in Virginia is just the safe place you need. This is in your best interest, Scott."

"That's bull. Why do you keep trying to be my father? You haven't had anything to do with me for the last ten years and now all of a sudden you're trying to be Father of the Year. I've got news for you; you're nothing more than a gene donor! I got my eyes and my hair color from you – that's it."

"Scott," Rafael begins, taking the paper back from his son, "you've got to understand where I'm coming from. Not only are you going to be safer in Richmond, but you'll also have more opportunities. The lacrosse team at the school is better than this one; you'll have more chances at scholarships for college. This is the best thing for you."

The boy shakes his head, "I've got practice."

Before he can hear his father say anything else, Scott is halfway on the field, stopping only when he hears Stiles call his name.

"Dude, what was that?" Stiles asks his best friend.

"I don't freaking know," the boy replies.

Stiles moves down to the last row of bleachers and asks, "Are you really going to Virginia?"

"McCall!" Finstock shouts, blowing his whistle for extra emphasis, "Stop flapping you gums and come play lacrosse!"

Scott shrugs in response to Stiles' question and then hurries onto the field, putting all of his anger into practice.

\-------

Erica takes one last deep breath and pulls open the door to the loft. She looks around and spots Derek on the couch, reading over what looked like a mythology book. His eyes go right to her, traveling all over her body and taking in every inch of her.

"Erica, I—" before he can continue, Erica drops her bag and crosses the space between them in mere seconds. Without hesitation, she puts her mouth to his. Derek, surprised at first, tenses up, but his passion takes over and he kisses her back.

Erica, who was bending to reach Derek's height due to his position on the couch gets suddenly pulled down to his level, feeling strong arms circle around her.

Their kiss intensifies and Erica tugs on Derek's hair while wrapping her legs around the man. But just like before, Derek is the one to break it off before things go too far.

"Erica…" he breathes heavily, his pupils dilated.

"Don't," she stops him. "I don't care what bullshit reasoning you're going to come up with, it's not going to work. I want you Derek. I don't need time to figure that out. I want you, and I want you now."

Derek stares at the pretty girl as he processes her words. Rather than answering her, he leans in for another kiss, confirming Erica's thoughts that he wanted her just as bad.

Erica feels his teeth graze her lower lip as he moves their bodies so she is no longer sitting in his lap, but leaning against the armrest of the couch, Derek's body pressing into hers.

It's Derek who initiates the removal of clothing this time, pulling away from Erica to throw his shirt across the room. He leans back in and slides his hands under Erica's shirt, feeling her bare skin burning beneath his touch.

Hunger fills the two and this time, nothing is stopping them.

Except for when the door opens and Cora walks in.

"What the hell?" she exclaims, clearly not informed of their feelings for each other. "I knew she was staying in your loft, I just didn't know you were in her loft too." Cora crosses her arms and shakes her head.

Erica and Derek pull apart, and anger roars through Derek.

"Cora, this is none of your business."

"I definitely don't want it to be either," she tells them, shutting the door and coming farther into the loft. "Look, I honestly don't care whatever you two have going on, but as long as I'm staying here, put a sock on the door or something."

With that she rolls her eyes and leaves, going into a bedroom.

"Did she just go into my room?" Erica asks after a moment.

"Yeah," Derek answers sheepishly. "She kind of took it over."

"Well, I don't think I want to be roomies with the sister of my…."

Derek looks at her, wondering where she was going with that.

"You know what I mean," she says, standing up and fixing her shirt.

"You can stay in my room if you want…" Derek says his eyes glued on her form.

"Yeah, I guess that would be okay."

She begins to walk past him to go to the kitchen, but Derek catches her wrist, intercepting her.

In a quick movement, their lips are on each other's again. Erica pulls away and rests her head on Derek's shoulder, laughing.

\-------

Allison's eyes scan down the pages of the book. Although she knows French, this text appears to be French and German mixed, not knowing totally what the book is saying, Allison closes it and throws it onto her bed, moving over to where Nolan sits at her desk.

"Anything?" the brunette asks.

Nolan shakes his head, "This one mentions a few things about the 'First Evil' and the 'Source of Evil' which I assume are just other names for Malum. Of course they also all say that these entities can't leave the Netherworld… which we know isn't true since Malum is here and wreaking havoc."

"Wait, the Source of Evil?" Allison asks.

"Yeah, why?"

"I've heard that before I just can't remember when… where have I heard that?"

Nolan shrugs and looks back down at the book when Allison suddenly exclaims, startling the boy.

"The Bestiary! Oh my god, I'm so stupid! Hang on," she says, leaving the room for a second only to return with a small flash drive in her hand. She smiles brightly and then says, "Want to see a Hunter's Bestiary?"

"Always," Nolan says with a smile, getting up to sit beside Allison on her bed.

Allison plugs the flash drive into her computer and waits until it comes up on her screen. The cover of the book is plain and in a minute Allison is clicking through the pages like a madwoman, along the sides of each page are little bubbles with the text translated. Going past pages with titles like "Demons A-Z" and "Hybrids" she finally stops on a page titled "The Source."

"This is it," Allison smiles as she scans down the page, "I should've had Lydia translate this one. Hang on I'll call her."

"Is that Archaic Latin?" Nolan asks.

Allison looks up from her phone, "Yeah, why?"

"I can read it," he smiles before continuing, "It says here 'The Source of Evil goes by many names, most commonly Malum Radix.' Holy shit I think we found it. Okay, 'Malum Radix is an elusive monster who can only come into the Human Plane if a human wanders into the Netherworld. Malum Radix wishes to cause chaos, his roots are usually tied within the natural world, and his tie to our world can only be broken if he is drawn to his roots and taken back to the Netherworld.'"

Allison looks at the mess of letter on the screen, "So we have to get him to his roots, then what?"

"Okay, um, this says, 'He can be taken back to the Netherworld in only one way. The person or persons who allowed him entrance are in control, they are the only ones who can get Malum Radix back – but by taking Malum Radix back they may not be able to return themselves.'"

"So basically whoever went into the Netherworld has to go back and make sure the Root stays there?" Allison asks.

Nolan nods, "Yeah, but if that person goes back they might not make it back a second time… and I'm not seeing any alternatives. We're going to have to find one though."

"No we don't," Allison says sternly, "I can go back to the Netherworld and take Malum with me. I'll be able to get back again too, I did it once before."

"Hell no," Nolan says, "no way. None of us are going to let you do that. Allison, you're my friend and I like to be honest with my friends, and to be honest you're an idiot if you think any of us are going to let you dive into the Netherworld. It's a suicide mission."

"Come on, it's taking one for the team!"

"No, we'll find another way. Now, pass me that book."

\-------

Camilla swings the basket she holds containing a few items she and Isaac had picked up throughout the drugstore. Her other hand holds Isaac's, and she feels him squeeze it, causing her to look up at him.

"I love you," he whispers to her, leaning in to kiss her. She laughs and they make their way to the checkout.

Before they make it there, Camilla runs into a man with a gallon of milk in his hands.

"Sorry," they both say at the same time. It's then Camilla realizes the man is no ordinary man, but her uncle.

"Uncle Chris! Hey!" she says uneasily, trying to shove the basket behind her back before he notices her purchases. She moves too slowly, though, and she watches as her uncle's eyes widen after spotting the box of condoms in her basket.

"Shit," Isaac mutters under his breath.

"Um, I, um…" Camilla mumbles, trying to come up with an excuse and feeling her face turn bright red.

Chris clears his throat and says, "Well… I…"

"Please don't tell my dad," Camilla blurts out.

"I… I won't… At least you're um, being safe," he stammers, clearly extremely uncomfortable. "You know, I forgot to get eggs. Silly me. See you guys later."

With that, Chris walks away quickly, not turning back to look at his niece and her boyfriend.

"That was the most mortifying thing that has ever happened to me," Camilla states, staring blankly ahead.

"It wasn't… that bad…" Isaac starts, but when Camilla looks at him he says, "Okay, it was."

"Shit. Shit shit shit. I cannot believe that this, of all things, happened to me."

Moving his hand to the small of Camilla's back, Isaac urges her forward, "Let's just checkout before we run into your dad."

"Not. Funny," Camilla scolds, making her way up to the register and placing her items on the counter.

\-------

Jackson watches as Danny slams his fist into the punching bag with such ferocity that the boy wonders if his best friend is possessed. A sheen of sweat covers Danny's muscular body as he continues to pound the bag.

"So he's just gone?" Jackson says after Danny takes a break, grabbing a water to drink.

Taking a big gulp the dark haired boy says, "Yep. I was the last one to know, if I hadn't overheard Ethan talking to Mrs. Trumbolt earlier today I probably wouldn't have known he was even leaving until I got a letter in the mail saying 'I love you, bye.'"

"That's pretty crappy; even I had the decency to let people know I was leaving when I did."

Danny nods his head and sits down on a bench and lets his head fall, "Why is it all my boyfriends turn out to be dirt?"

"Because," Jackson begins, sitting down beside his friend, "you're a good person and you tend to overlook the bad qualities in people. Take me for instance, you ignored my jackass qualities because you're a good person and you refused to listen to what other people said."

"You're a lot more than just a jackass, Jackson."

Rolling his eyes he says, "You get what I'm saying right? You need to find a dude who doesn't have a bad rep right off the bat. I'm pretty sure Stiles and Scott warned you Ethan was bad news – and if I remember sophomore year I told you Grayson was going to be an ass ache."

"I thought that was a joke," Danny says with a smile.

"Yeah, well, I was right wasn't I?"

"So what you're saying is I should look for a smart guy with a cute smile, that some people say is weird but he's really just kind of an introvert so he comes off weird. That kind of guy?"

Jackson nods, "Exactly!"

"Alright, that settles it, I'm gonna ask Nolan out," Danny says finitely.

"Hold up, you wanna ask Nolan out? My Nolan?" Jackson questions his friend.

Danny raises an eyebrow, "Your Nolan?"

"I, uh, he's just… are you sure he's the type of guy you want to be going after? He doesn't really seem like your type."

"You aren't my type," Danny reiterates for what feels like the hundredth time, "but Nolan is actually kind of perfect. He's cute and funny and he's not attached to anyone and doesn't have some weird family business going on that pulls him out of state. I think he'd be good for me."

Jackson's hands roll into fists, "He's just…"

"Are you going to tell me you have feelings for him now? Because I've been watching you ogle him for almost a freaking month now and it's starting to bug me."

"What are you talking about?"

Danny rolls his eyes and wipes some dripping sweat off of his face, "The Halloween Dance, that night at Jungle, basically every day in Chemistry… you eye that boy like he's something to eat and if you don't make a move on him I will just out of spite."

"I thought we were talking about your relationship," Jackson says with a narrowed gaze.

The dark haired boy gets up and walks over to the punching bag, hitting it lightly, "I need details. I need you to tell me exactly what happened when you took Nolan home after Jungle, and then I'll help you get that boy to fall in love with you."

"Danny…"

"Shut up," the boy smiles, "and let me help you. Allow my heartbreak to help make your love flourish."

Jackson stands up too and walks over to his friend, the memory of Danny coming out to him in eighth grade dancing in his head. The taller boy had been so nervous to tell Jackson and Jackson's response had simply been 'So are you gonna marry a dude then?'

Jackson slaps his hand on Danny's shoulder and says, "Thanks, man."

Danny smiles brightly in response.

\-------

Cora is hesitant to enter the Hale house. The place held nothing but sour memories for her; she could almost still smell the gasoline mixed with burning flesh that still wakes her up in the middle of the night. Her heart races as she swallows her fear and steps inside.

"Uncle Peter?" she calls into the dark house, she hears nothing and turns around to leave when she comes face-to-face with Peter.

"Cora, my dearest niece," he smiles, which sends a chill down the girl's spine, "so glad to see you."

She nods, "Yeah, well, you asked to meet me here."

"That I did. Aren't you going to give your uncle a hug?"

Rather reluctantly Cora wraps her arms around the man and squeezes him lightly, "Good to see you."

When the two pull apart, Cora can instantly feel the change that goes through Peter's body and the presence of an unknown entity. Her limbs lock as she prepares for a fight. The man before her catches on to her fear and smiles.

Raising an eyebrow he asks, "What seems to be wrong?"

"Derek told me you'd been distant from the pack," she answers, "and it's suddenly hitting me that you're the person who killed my sister. Maybe you're on the bad guy's side, who knows? But Peter, I really suggest you let me go."

"Is that what you suggest?" Peter asks sarcastically, "If that's what you suggest, Cora, then by all means leave."

The girl moves quickly and pushes past Peter and to the front door, catching a whiff of burned wood as she does so. The smell makes her stomach hurt.

Her hand grips the cold metal of the doorknob when suddenly she's pulled by her hair. The force of the pull is so strong she gags from the pain, when she hits the floor she looks up to see her uncle clutching some dark brown hair – her hair. Reaching back to the spot he'd pulled it from she can feel it already healing.

"What the hell?" she nearly screams and although she is trying to ignore her anger she can feel her eyes change color.

Peter shrugs, "I just do what Malum tells me."

Without warning a figure appears. It's a tall woman with pitch black hair and a long neck, "So nice to meet one of Peter's friends."

It's then Peter's fist makes contact with Cora's face. The impact so hard the girl knows her nose is broken practically before its hit. She screams out in pain as blood gushes from her nose. She moves her hand, claws growing out and slashing Peter's arm. Blood runs from the spot she has stabbed and stains the sleeve of Peter's white shirt.

"This is John Varvatos!" he shouts, lifting her head up – again by the hair.

"Stop!" she screams, again digging her nails into his arm. She can feel the blood running down her hand as she does this and Peter is quick to howl. In the dim light she can see his face change into wolf form, his teeth snap at nothing as he lets go of her hair and grabs her hands – snapping them backwards as to break her wrists.

Cora screams, tears streaming down her bloodied face.

Peter leans down suddenly, placing his hands on either side of her face as he does so. His lips make smooth contact with her forehead as he whispers, "Say hello to your mother for me."

The man snaps his niece's neck without any hesitation and watches as the life fades out of her eyes.

There's a moment of silence that Peter thinks is fitting considering the death of another Hale. For a second he really questions the luck of the Hale family in the house and is almost thankful the place had been burned.

"I never told you to kill her," The Root says from behind Peter. From the shadows, Peter sees another man appear beside the guise that Malum has taken this evening. "I mean, I get you didn't want her to think you were some backstabbing asshole, but why'd you have to throw me under the bus?"

Peter rolls his eyes, "You're the Root of Evil, my friend. You were thrown under the bus the second you came into existence – you've been under bus and pulled for about 4,540 million years."

"Details."

"Care to tell me what Graham is doing here?"

The Root turns slightly too look at the boy behind him, "Ah, I just felt like bringing him back."

Peter stares at the tall boy, remembering the satisfaction her felt when he'd gotten to rip his throat out Saturday night. His neck looks scarred and that pleases the werewolf – knowing he left his mark on the now undead hunter.

"So what's he going to do?"

Malum smiles at the werewolf and snaps his fingers before he disappears into the air.

\-------

Lydia puckers her lips, admiring the new sheen of gloss she had just applied. She fluffs her hair, rechecks her makeup, and then slams her locker shut. She flinches when she sees Stiles leaning against the locker next to hers, previously hidden by her locker door.

"My God, Stilinski, give a girl a warning before you creep up on her," she mutters, readjusting the history book she had clutched to her chest.

"Lydia I literally said hello to you when I got here," Stiles defends himself.

The girl frowns and casts her eyes up to the ceiling, trying to recall his greeting. When she doesn't remember, she shrugs and begins making her way to the history class she and Stiles shared.

Camilla falls into step with them and says, "Hey guys. Did you get the homework done?"

"Nope," Stiles replies with indifference.

Lydia rolls her eyes and replies, "I did. You can copy it."

"Thanks. I was planning on doing it but—"

"You were doing Isaac instead?" Lydia smirks playfully.

"Um, no. I mean, I was with him, but my book was at my place and I've been trying to avoid my dad so…"

"Uh huh," Lydia answers with sarcasm.

The three stop at the door to Mr. Panzarella's class which was unusually closed.

"Maybe he's meeting with a student," Stiles suggests.

"Well, I'm not waiting for them to finish up," Lydia asserts, moving forward to open the door.

When she does, a blast of copper-smelling air hits the students, making them wrinkle their noses.

"God, what is that?" Stiles gags, bringing his hand up to plug his nose.

"Blood," Camilla answers surely, pushing through the other two to enter the classroom and flip on the light switch.

It's then Lydia lets out a blood-curdling scream, just as all three of them spot the source of the smell.

Lying on top of his desk is Mr. Panzarella, blood covering nearly every inch of him.

Lydia turns away, but Camilla and Stiles continue to look, recognizing the carvings on the man's chest.

Students began to crowd the door, wanting to see what the big fuss was, and that's when all hell broke loose.

Soon enough, faculty members shoo everyone from the room and the police are dialed.

A few minutes later, Camilla, Stiles, and Lydia stand huddled together outside of the building amongst the majority of the students, awaiting directions from the staff.

Scott and Isaac spot the three and make their way to them.

"What the hell happened?" Scott asks.

Camilla is the first to answer, "The Root killed Mr. Panzarella."

\-------

Lydia is the last one to get to the loft and as she enters her face is paler than usual. She shrugs out of her cranberry red coat and hangs it on the hook besides Scott's familiar jean jacket and then walks over to the rest of the group, sitting down absently beside Isaac.

"Basically, I want to know what the hell is going on," Stiles says from one end of the couch.

"Let's just keep cool heads about this," Erica says. "Us getting all out of sorts isn't going to solve any problems."

Scott nods his head and stands up, "Erica is right. The Root is evil; we've known that from the start – it's even in his name. Him killing Mr. Panzarella, while ruthless, isn't all that shocking. Nolan, Allison did you guys find any ways to get Malum out of here?"

"Actually we –" Allison begins, only to be cut off by Nolan.

"We didn't find anything," the boy finishes, "just more of the same. He comes, he kills, he conquers."

Scott nods his head, vaguely disturbed, and as everyone's attention falls back to the Alpha and Stiles who begin to discuss possible ways to subdue Malum, Allison asks, "Why wouldn't you let me tell them that we found a way?"

Nolan locks eyes with her, "Because that way is idiotic and is going to get one of you three killed."

"What's going on?" Jackson asks the pair.

"Nothing," Allison says, getting up and walking to the kitchen area.

Lydia's voice suddenly grabs everyone's attention, "I couldn't hear him."

"What is she talking about?" Camilla asks.

"Every other time, for the last year, if there's a body I can sense it. With Mr. Panzarella I had no idea… I think maybe the Root has found a way to block whatever magic it is that allows me to sense dead bodies. This way it's a total surprise for all of us," the girl says, her face is blank as she speaks.

Stiles gets up and goes to stand beside Scott, "So it's fair to assume that Malum is getting stronger."

"What are you all doing here?" Derek asks, coming out from the back room, "When did my loft become the HQ of the Supernatural Teenage Justice League?"

Isaac is the first to answer, "Uh, Erica and I figured that this was the best place. Since Scott's mom is usually at his house and Stiles' dad is usually at his house. Plus Camilla and Allison's dads are usually at their places… we don't really want to involve any of the parents."

"Yeah," Erica says coldly, "we know how Malum loves a good parent for dinner."

The room falls silent at the reminder that the Root had taken the lives of Erica's mom and dad. Camilla grabs a hold of Isaac's hand and squeezes it, the two share a smile before Derek finally speaks again.

"I'm out of here then," the ex-Alpha says, "way too much teen in here."

He walks over and without a second thought kisses Erica softly on the lips. Everyone sits in shock, watching as Derek pulls away and tucks a piece of blonde hair behind Erica's ear. As the man pulls on his leather jacket and leaves the room again fills with noise.

"That's certainly new," Stiles says with a half-laugh.

"What?" Erica asks, concerned.

Camilla elbows her friend, "He's talking about the wolf that just tried to eat your face."

"Oh, right… well… that is sort of new."

Scott is quick to pull everyone's attention back to the present, but Camilla grabs a hold of Erica's hand and pulls the girl out from the quasi-meeting, and to the bedroom from which Derek had just been in. Camilla's pretty face is alight as she feels hundreds of questions pop into her head.

"Thanks for sharing the news!" she blurts out, not sure what to ask first.

"Sorry, I didn't think about it… I was just caught up in… him, I guess," Erica says, failing to hide a smile.

"So my advice worked, huh?" Camilla states matter-of-factly. "I tooooold you."

"I know," Erica blushes. "I'm really glad I went for it."

Popping his head in, Isaac says quickly, "Erica, the pack is needed ASAP. Scott and Jackson already left, but we have to catch up with them."

"What's going on?" Camilla asks.

"Derek just called," her boyfriend replies, "apparently Dr. Deaton found a way to get rid of Malum."

\-------

Stiles drops his bag to the floor of his room and immediately plops down on his bed, letting out a heavy sigh. His eyes shut as he tries to relax.

His peacefulness is interrupted when he hears a knock on the door.

"Yeah?" he calls, not bothering to open his eyes.

Rather than responding, the door creaks open and Stiles listens for his father's footfalls entering the room. When Stiles realizes he isn't speaking, he opens his eyes and sits up when he spots who had just entered his room.

"M-mom?" he chokes out, edging back on his bed a bit more.

The woman before him smiles a sad smile.

"No… no. This is a dream. I'm dreaming, and soon enough, you're going to try and kill me," he states, rubbing his eyes and shaking his head.

"Stiles…" she says softly, sorrow filling her face.

"Well, go for it, right after you kill me I'll wake up anyways," Stiles tells her, gesturing for her to come at him.

The woman before him frowns and shakes her head, "Stiles… it's me."

Before the boy says anything else, he hears a choked gasp come from the doorway. His eyes flash to the source of the sound, and there he sees his father standing, his eyes on his late wife.

"Claudia?" his voice whispers shakily.

The woman turns and locks eyes with the sheriff.

"Stiles what the hell is going on?" he says in a steady voice, not taking his eyes off of Claudia.

"Well, dream dad, it appears my dead mother has come to me once again, and I'm almost one hundred percent sure she'll be lunging for me in the next minute," Stiles replies, folding his hands on his lap.

"Stiles… this isn't a dream. What. The. Hell. Is. Going. On."

It's then Stiles starts to consider the possibility of being awake, but before he can elaborate, he hears the click of a gun being cocked. When he looks over at his father, he sees that the sheriff has taken out his gun and trained it on the woman.

"Dad, what are you—"

"Stiles. I want you to slowly make your way over to me," he turns his eyes over to Claudia and speaks again, "And if you make one little move, I'll blow your head off."

"Dad—"

"Stiles, now."

The boy obliges and slowly rises from the bed, inching his way along the floor to get to his father. He gets behind the sheriff safely and when he does, he watches as the woman he once knew as his mother stand tensely, worry on her face.

"Dad… I think this might actually be Mom," he says after a moment.

"And why in the hell do you think that?" his father responds, not lowering the gun one little inch.

"Well, uh, funny story… you know how Matt was… resurrected? Well… The Root has a tendency to bring people back to life and…" he trails off, letting his father connect the dots.

"Why would he bring back your mother?" his father asks after a minute, sorrow masking his voice.

"I honestly don't know," Stiles answers truthfully.

"What are we supposed to do? Doesn't this Root guy have control over the people he brings back? Like Matt?"

Stiles doesn't respond, not sure of what to say.

"Stiles… We can't let her run around under his control… We need to—"

The sheriff is interrupted when the woman speaks. Her worrisome demeanor fades, and she stands up straighter. A sort of smirk appears on her face.

"Now, I'm all for a gun show, but I like this body, so I'm going to skedaddle before you put a hole in me."

Stiles's face drains of color as he says, "Malum."

"Ding, ding, ding! I had you going for a while… never thought you'd think of re-killing your poor old wife, Sheriff. But I guess I had the Stilinskis pegged wrong," The Root responds. With that, they watch as the woman snaps her fingers and disappears.

"What the hell?" Stiles's father asks his voice husky and upset. His arms lower the gun, and he hunches over.

"Dad, I'm sorry… The Root does this a lot. I didn't ever think—"

"Stop…" his father tells him, sorrow on his face. "Just stop."

Stiles moves out of the way so his father can make his way down the hall and into his own room, where he slams the door shut.

 -------

Camilla scrapes the last bit of fettuccine alfredo off of her plate and puts it into her mouth. She sets her fork down and lies back in her chair, moving her hand to rub her stomach.

"Full," she states with her mouth still full.

"I so admire your ladylike manners, I raised you well," Ron comments, mouth full of food also.

Camilla smiles brightly, still chewing her food. She stands up and grabs the plates from the table, careful to maneuver around the boxes still littering the floor from their move.

"You know," she calls to her father from the kitchen, "we really need to start really unpacking. It was okay when we were at Chris and Allison's, but now we've got a place of our own… we kind of need to make it our own."

"Yeah, I'll get right on that," Ron calls back. Camilla rolls her eyes, knowing her father does not intend to follow through.

She sets the plates in the sink and decides to wait until later to wash them. She begins putting the milk and parmesan cheese away when she hears the doorbell ring.

"Got it!" she hears her father yell. A few seconds later, she hears him exclaim, "Graham!"

Camilla's eyes widen when she hears his name. She hadn't seen or heard from him since Saturday night, and apparently neither had her father. Graham never even showed up to stay the night, her father told her.

Before she can sneak off to her room, she hears a grunt and a loud crash. Her instincts kick in, and she rushes to the front door where she sees Graham hovering over her father.

"What the hell?" she yells, grabbing Graham's attention. The look he gives her is full of malice, but Camilla notices emptiness in his eyes.

Her distraction gives Ron enough time to get up and knock Graham to the floor. For being over forty, her father was in incredible shape, and could still fight better than a 21 year-old.

Graham's head slams to the floor and Ron slams his foot down over his chest to assure he won't get back up.

"You want to tell me what in the hell you think you're doing coming in here and attacking me?" Ron yells, spit flying from his mouth.

"Obeying orders," Graham replies slyly right before he grabs Ron's leg and pushes him off. Ron doesn't expect the move, and he flies to the side.

Graham jumps up and makes his way to Ron again, but before he can do any more damage, Camilla grabs a lamp and rushes toward her ex-boyfriend, slamming it hard against his skull.

The man goes down, knocked out cold. Camilla holds the now-broken lamp just above his unconscious body, ready to hit him again.

"He's out, Camilla," she hears her father say, standing up and wiping blood from the corner of his mouth. "Obeying orders? What does that even mean?"

Camilla drops the lamp and turns to her father, "I'll explain everything, but first, we need to tie him up."

"Why do I have a feeling I'm not going to like this?" Ron grumbles, grabbing Graham's slack arm and pulling.

\-------

The pack stands around the exam room at the animal clinic, waiting for Deaton to come into the room. Erica stands between Isaac and Derek, both men appear to be fearing for her safety – although she isn't sure why, she's no longer the Root's minion, there isn't anything she needs to fear.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Deaton says as he walks into the room, "I had to finishing cremating a cat."

"Swell," Jackson says tensely, "you wanna tell us how we get rid of the Root or are we just going to talk business all night?"

"Don't be a jerk," Scott orders his beta.

"Sort of a second nature for him, if memory serves," Erica quips coldly.

Deaton shakes his head, "I'm afraid getting rid of Malum Radix won't be as easy as you might think. The process by which you got him to the reality wasn't all that easy and let's just say the process to take him back is even harder."

"Harder why?" Derek asks.

"When Allison, Scott, and Stiles went under the water last time they were going in search of their parents. The intent was good and the outcome was good, although I had warned them that they would be suffering with darkness from that point on," Deaton says. "This time however, the intent can't be considered good. While expelling Malum Radix would certainly be good for our world, the intent would be seen as bad because evil is explicitly involved."

"Okay," Scott says, "so it would be seen as bad. How do we even start getting rid of Malum?"

Deaton nods his bald head, "The process would involve going back to the Nemeton in the Netherworld. You would have to cut one of its roots, calling Malum forth, his appearance at the Nemeton along with the cutting on the root and some blood from one of the people who brought him forth would open a portal. The person conducting this would then have to take the root and bury it, tying Malum to that reality. Only this time – disturbing the habitat of the Netherworld would, well, it would link you to that world. And there's a great chance that that link wouldn't be severed and you would be stuck there."

"So Stiles, Allison, or Scott has to perform this ritual," Isaac says, "and by doing so there's a chance that they'll be stuck in the Root's world forever?"

Deaton locks eyes with Scott, "Yes."

"There isn't any other way?" Scott asks.

"I'm afraid not."

Scott looks at the wolves around him, his heart is racing and he knows the other can hear it. Jackson places a hand on his back, hoping to calm him.

"We can try to find another way," Jackson says reassuringly.

"There isn't any other way," Deaton restates.

Jackson growls, "There isn't any other way you know of. But there's got to be."

"He could be right," Erica says, "who in their right mind would have thought I'd be brought back from the dead?"

"Or that the Root of Evil would ever even be in Beacon Hills?" Isaac adds.

Scott eyes Deaton intensely and then says quietly, "Give us a minute."

"Since when do we take orders from you, McCall?" Jackson scoffs, before Scott's fist slams into his jaw.

Jackson lets out a yelp, even though there isn't any bruising or swelling, the impact still hurt. With a defeated sigh, Jackson leads the rest of the pack out of the exam room and into the main part of the animal clinic – and being the last one out, Derek shuts the door behind them.

When the pack is gone, Scott is left with Deaton. The Alpha's mind is racing as his thinks of the impending doom.

It doesn't take a genius to see that Scott is freaking and Deaton picks up on it quickly, "I'm so sorry Scott."

Scott simply nods, not really hearing his boss' words. Instead he focuses on Allison, how they had just gotten back together and how they were finally happy again… if she dies he'll be crushed. He thinks of Stiles, his best friend in the whole world, how he had almost lost him once and how he wasn't sure if he'd be able to do it again.

The boy makes up his mind then, knowing that no matter who died there'd be unhappiness, but that this was the right decision to make.

"I'll do it," Scott says, "I'll go back and take the Root with me."

\-------


	12. In The Evening (3x24)

Scott sits at the small round table in Derek's loft; he's only catching the tail end of everything Derek and everyone else is saying. Everything is a mess, his mind is all over the place, his heart is pounding in his chest, and all he can think about is how mad Stiles and Allison will be at him after he goes into the Netherworld to stop Malum from causing any more harm than he already has.

The thought of his beautiful girlfriend calms him though.

Allison.

He's fairly certain his heart's stopped beating.

Even in the harsh, eco-friendly light of the loft she looks gorgeous. Her skin is pale like porcelain and he knows just how wonderfully soft it feels, her shoulder length brown hair shines in the light too, framing her striking face in a way that makes Scott all the more heartbroken.

Music is thumpi _ng_   _all around them; Scott makes eye contact with Allison. As He wraps his arms around her the pair begin to sway in time with the music, when suddenly - caught in the moment - Scott kisses her. As he pulls away he takes in her smile._

_"Why… why did you do that?" she asks, taken aback but indescribably happy._

_Scott smiles down at her, "Because I love you."_

"Well there's got to be some other way," Stiles says, snapping Scott out of his thoughts, "I mean, Malum has to have some weakness, right? Some killer kryptonite sort of thing that'll render him totally useless so we can go in for the kill."

"Hello," Erica says flatly, examining her red painted nails as she speaks, "in case you don't remember, our dear Root of Evil can't be killed because it isn't a person or anything of the sort. It's a freaking entity."

"He's just trying to help," Scott snaps.

Everyone in the loft falls silent. Erica shifts uncomfortably from where she sits on the counter and Isaac fidgets nervously from beside the fridge.

Stiles take _s a step toward him, inching closer and closer every second, even in his stupor he feels the calming influence Stiles always manages to have on him. The boy reaches his hand out._

 _"Scott, just listen to me… okay? You're not no one_ ," _Stiles_ _says_ , _fighting_ _off_ _tears_ , " _You're_ _someone_ … _you_ … _you're_   _my_ _brother_ , _S_ cott."

"…them, okay? We could use some reinforcements," Isaac says, panic seeping through his words.

"What?" Scott asks.

"Call them," Allison says, reaching out to touch Scott's arm, "Camilla, Nolan, Lydia, and Jackson. We're going to find another way out of this. We will, okay?"

He smiles at her weakly and takes her hand in his.

The girl smiles back and leans toward her boyfriend, connecting her lips with his in a gentle manner. When she pulls back she stares lovingly into Scott's chocolate-y brown eyes.

"Why'd you do that?" he asks her quietly.

Allison shrugs, "Because I love you."

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

"She's going to be here any minute… We need to think of something fast," Ron says, one of his hands in his hair scratching his head as though the action will bring forth an idea. The two were trying to figure out a way to hide Graham, who was currently tied up in the laundry room.

"Well I could hide him under my bed… There's enough room for a person his size to fit under there," Camilla offers, gesturing towards her bedroom.

Ron looks at her quizzically, "I'm assuming this means you have prior experience with that…?"

Camilla's eyes widen as she stammers, "N-no. No way. I'm just very observant."

Ron nods, a sly look on his face.

Before the two can take any action, the front door opens and in walks Susan with a large plate of cookies in her hands.

"Hi! I'm just going to set these in the kitchen, the plate is hot hot hot!" she exclaims, sashaying past the two quickly. Ron gulps and frantically tries to devise a plan.

"Shit, dad!" Camilla whispers.

"Language, Camilla," her father scolds. "You distract her, I'll… I don't know… I'll—"

Before he can finish, Susan re-enters, a dirty dishrag in her hand.

"You know how I love to clean," she smiles at them. "I'm just going to throw this one in the laundry room and grab a new one real quick, then I'll pour you two some milk and—"

"Wait, no!" Ron shouts too late. Susan opens the door and her eyes widen in surprise.

"Do you two know there is a tied up young man in here?" she asks, hands on her hips.

"Yes, and we can explain," Camila tells her quickly, moving to shut the door and usher Susan into the kitchen.

"Well, where do I begin?" Ron asks Camilla, who shrugs and shakes her head. "Susan… we're werewolf hunters…"

For the next twenty minutes, Ron and Camilla take turns telling Susan everything. Throughout the whole story-telling process, Susan sits interested, but not terrified.

"So this… Root thing has control over this poor boy?" Susan asks when they finish.

"Yes," Camilla answers. "And there's nothing we can do until we find a way to get rid of him."

"So sad," Susan replies sorrowfully. "Well, there's no sense in moping around. Who wants cookies and milk?"

Bewildered, Ron asks, "Don't you have any more questions? You don't feel like running out of here screaming? I don't…."

"Please, Ron," Susan gestures with her hand, "I see a psychic, I'm not as oblivious as I look. I'd like to say I know you, and I don't think you have a young man tied up in your laundry room just for fun. Sure, it's a bit scary, but I'm okay with it!"

Susan smiles and gets up to move to the fridge and pulls out a jug of milk, "Any takers?"

Camilla nods her head right as she feels her pocket vibrate. She pulls out her phone and scans over the text she had just received.

"Actually, I'll pass on the milk," Camilla says, stuffing her phone back in to her pocket. "We're trying the library again to find something on The Root."

"At least take some cookies!" Susan responds, rushing to hand Camilla two of them wrapped up in a napkin.

"Thanks. See ya later!"

\-------

Lydia sits beside her weeping mother, handing the older woman a tissue. The end credits roll for The Last Song as Mrs. Martin wipes away a tear.

The red haired girl doesn't care though, she may have forced Jackson to watch _The Notebook_ a hundred times over, but that was more for the enjoyment she got from watching him cringe every time Ryan Gosling said something romantic.

"How is this helping me?" Lydia asks rolling her eyes as her mom blows her nose.

"You - oh wow look at me – uh, you need a distraction, sweetie. You've dealt with way too much death for any high school junior. This chick flick-a-thon is on to take your mind off it," the woman insists, "now, quit making fun of your mother and put in _Love, Actually_ while I go pop some more butter free popcorn."

Mrs. Martin pushes off the red blanket she has draped over her lap, grabs the empty popcorn bowl, and walks away into the kitchen. With a sigh, Lydia gets up and grabs the DVD her mother had asked her to. She's just about to put the disc into the Blu-Ray player when her phone begins playing Vogue by Madonna. She drops the disc and rushes to her phone, knowing somehow it was critical. Seeing that the caller is Stiles, she smiles and places it to her ear.

"Hello Mr. Stilinski," she says with her natural flirty tone.

"Lydia, I'm outside," the boy answers her, sounding hoarse, "we need all of us… we, uh, well I'll explain on the way. We just need all hands on deck. So hurry up, it's cold as hell out here."

A scream is caught in her throat as she hollers to her mother, "Friend emergency!" before rushing to the door.

\-------

"More nothing," Camilla says, slamming the thick book down onto the table. She rubs her eyes and then stares out the library window as the rising sun pours into the room.

Isaac sighs, "Just relax."

"Relax? We've been at this for almost eight hours, I haven't gotten any sleep, and my cousin might have to die to save all of us and you want me to relax? Is that a goddamn joke?" Camilla spits out venomously.

"Okay, then don't relax."

"You guys find anything?" the girl asks Nolan and Jackson at the opposite end of the table.

Jackson shakes his sleepy head, "A lot of stuff about how to get rid of a kitsune, whatever the hell that is…"

"It's a Japanese trickster spirit," Nolan says through a yawn, "and no, I don't see anything and we're running out of options here."

"Fuck," Camilla sighs, running a hand through her already messy hair.

"I'll go check another book," the boy says, getting up to walk to the back corner of the UCBH library. His sneakers squeak ever so lightly on the tiled floor of the university library and he carelessly pulls a stray dog hair off of his navy blue t-shirt and allows it to flow in the breeze.

When he finally gets to the bookshelf to where the book belongs he slides it back into place and finds one with THE CONSPIRACY OF FATE written in archaic Latin along the side. Nolan is quick to pull it off the shelf and sink to the ground to read it. His heart sinks as his eyes scan over the cover, a picture of a mighty tree is embossed on it in worn, green velvet.

The boy flips through the pages quickly, scanning the first page before tuning that, he flips a few more, catching a few words here and there - having a hard time translating due to his tiredness - when a shadow casts over him. He looks up to see Jackson leaning against the bookshelf with his arms crossed. He smiles lightly before he sits down beside Nolan.

"So," Jackson begins.

"So what?" Nolan snaps back.

"Are we ever going to talk about what happened on Saturday?"

Nolan chuckles and the chuckle soon spawns into full on laughter, "You have got to be kidding me! Our friends are in danger, real mortal danger, and you want to talk about what I'm thinking about our near hookup? Seriously?"

"Well…"

"Seriously?!"

Camilla appears now, her hair in a ponytail, "Will you stop yelling? Jesus Christ."

"There's nothing," Nolan says finally, slamming the book shut, "there's not a fucking thing in any of these books that's going to tell us how to stop Stiles, Allison, and Scott from dying. We're totally, up against the wall screwed."

"God you're weird," Camilla says, shaking her head.

"Nothing at all?" Isaac asks, coming up to wrap his arms around his girlfriend.

"He says no," Jackson answers.

Camilla groans, "Maybe he just isn't trying hard enough. Come on Smarty Pants, show us the money."

"Camilla, come on," Isaac protests.

"No, if he's not gonna be a team player I think the least I can do is throw a couple stones at him."

"Shut your girlfriend up, Lahey," Jackson warns.

Camilla takes a step toward Jackson, "Really, Square? You're such a misogynistic pig you can't even tell me to shut up yourself?"

A full-fledged argument commences as Jackson stands up and gets into Camilla's face. The girl starts spitting words out in Spanish as she shoves the werewolf as hard as she can, he barely budges but the slight push is enough to make Jackson's eyes flash blue… which ultimately makes Isaac step in to put himself between the pair of dueling egos.

"Perro," Camilla shouts, "Do you know anything you muscle headed, boarding school going, buttfuc –"

"Shut up!" Nolan shouts, "Shut up! Shut up! Shut. Up."

The three kids fall silent, taken back by the quiet boy's outburst.

Exasperated, Nolan begins to massage his temples.

"We all need to calm down," Isaac says, "we're all on the same side, trying to find the same answer to save the same people we care about."

With a sigh Nolan stands up, joining the group fully, "There's one other place we could try. And it's a long shot and it's awful but there's one last place we could look to find out how to save our friends."

The kids exchange a wary glance, and then as though they'd taken a vote and nominated a speaker, Camilla asks, "Where?"

"My mother."

\-------

Allison rubs her back with her hand, exhausted and achy. She checks the clock, but doesn't even register the time in her head.

Deciding to get a glass of water, the brunette rises from her bed and exits her bedroom. Her feet pad quietly on the floor as she moves toward the kitchen. The sunlight pours into her apartment, making the silence a little more beautiful. As soon as she enters the kitchen, however, all the peacefulness is shattered.

There before her sits her mother, Kate, and Gerard.

"Hello, Allison," her mother says, looking at her daughter up and down.

"Okay, which one of you is The Root and which ones are his minions?" Allison asks, her throat tightening up.

"None of us, actually," Kate tells her, pacing the floor. "We're here because of you."

"Me?"

"Yes, Allison," Gerard starts. "We're here because you have a job and you're not doing it."

"What do you mean?" Allison asks, her head whirring.

"You know what we mean!" Kate yells, slamming her hands on the table. "You've known for a while now that you can get rid of The Root and. You're. Not. Doing. It."

"I-I can't. I don't—"

"No daughter of mine is a coward!" her mother roars, standing up and moving closer to Allison. "When I was bitten, did I back down because I was scared? NO! I took my own life in order to protect those around me. But you, you're despicable. Sitting around waiting for someone else to do the job for you. Absolutely disgusting."

Allison feels hot tears flood from her eyes.

"Oh and now you're crying?" Kate whines in fake sympathy. "We're all dead and you're the one who's crying?"

"Allison, you know what you need to do," Gerard tells her firmly, more calm than the others.

Her gaze follows where Gerard's eyes wander to, and she sees a tub full of ice, one she had apparently missed upon entering the kitchen.

"Allison, you can't back down. You're the only one who can stop this. You have to do it," her mother tells her more calmly.

"I'm scared," Allison answers, her voice wobbly. The rage on her mother's face returns.

"Stop being a child, Allison! I raised you better than that!" In a flash, Allison's mother is close to her, her hand grabbing her daughter's hair, hard.

In her ear she says, "You are going to do this. I don't care how scared you are. You carry a last name full of honor and you're shaming it!"

"Please, let go," Allison sobs from the pain and the torment.

Rather than letting go, her mother drags her toward the ice bath.

"Please, no. I want to say goodbye. Please!" Allison screams, struggling to escape her mother's grip. "Gerard, make her stop! Kate! Please!"

The two move towards her, but it isn't Allison they help. Instead, they grab the writhing girl and steady her, making it nearly impossible to escape now.

"Wipe your tears, baby," Kate coos, smoothing back a few strands of Allison's hair. "The hard part hasn't even started yet."

Allison feels herself being lifted and she thrashes her whole body, crying out the whole time. She feels the pain of her hair still being gripped and the sharpness of nails digging into her skin. Strong hands hold her so tight, she can already feel bruises forming.

"Please," she chokes out right before the hands slam her down into the freezing water.

Pain hits her instantly, and her body moves to try and escape it, but the hands are firm. Her head is fully underwater, and she tries to hold her breath, but the shock of it all makes the water able to enter her mouth. And choke her.

She hears herself moving through the water, but she goes nowhere. Her vision begins to blacken, and her movements become more struggled. Over the sound of the water moving, she hears Kate.

"Let go, Allison. You have to do this."

Allison keeps fighting, but soon, nearly all her vision is black and she can barely move. The cold reaches her core and ices her whole body. She tries to keep fighting, but soon it all goes black.

\-------

Peter whistles as he steps into the Hale house.

"Honey, I'm home," he calls out, smiling at his humor.

"Now is not the time for jokes, Peter. Graham was supposed to attack the hunter girlfriend and her father, and I have no idea where he is," The Root tells him angrily.

"Wait, which hunter girlfriend? They are both quite similar. There's the basket case Allison, who surprisingly has good comebacks, or there's the charming Camilla, who I feel has great potential as a werewolf."

"Camilla. I sent Graham since she wouldn't expect her past lover to turn homicidal and kill her father right before her eyes."

"Ah, I see. That would be quite a shock," Peter replies. "But anyways, don't you have some bond thing with the kid? Can't you get into his head?"

"Yes, but he is blindfolded. I have no idea where he is."

"That could be a problem," Peter frowns.

"I'm well aware of that, thank you."

"No need to be sassy, we're all on the same team here," Peter tells him.

"I need to leave. Why don't you make yourself useful and find my missing slave," The Root responds, followed by the snapping of his fingers.

All alone, Peter speaks to himself, "Must be its time of the month."

\-------

"This place?" Camilla asks, pulling into the parking lot of a big, looming building.

"Eichen House…" Nolan reads from the sign in the front of the building. "Yep, this is the place."

Sensing a bit of anxiety, Jackson grabs Nolan's hand and squeezes, giving the auburn-haired boy a small smile when he glances over at him.

"Let's do this mother," Camilla says, unbuckling her seatbelt and stepping out of her car.

Nolan takes a deep breath and does the same. Jackson, Camilla, Nolan, and Isaac take one last nervous glance at each other before making their way up the steps and towards the main entrance.

A woman who looked like she needed a week's vacation handed the four a clipboard with a visitor's log. She had a bored expression on her face as each of them scribbled their name down quickly.

Once the formalities were taken care of, another woman, looking just as bored as the first, led them up three flights of stairs. When they reached the top, the woman had to unlock a door with her key card.

They passed that door, but they were stopped by another door, and the woman turned to face the group.

"If you have any weapons, sharp objects, or any foreign instrument, leave it in this room. If you have shoes with shoelaces, either take them off or triple knot them. If you have purses or wallets, leave them here. If you have any food or drink, leave it here. If you have any questions ask now."

Overwhelmed with the woman's instructions, the four rid themselves of the prohibited items but asked no questions.

"Okay, right through here," she tells them after a minute, unlocking the door and ushering them through.

"These patients are very unpredictable. Watch what you're doing, and watch them. You have twenty minutes. The patient you requested is in room 324."

Let loose, the kids stand in the same spot for a moment, unsure of what to do.

"They're just going to let us go?" Camilla whispers. "No supervision?"

"I've only been here a couple times, but I know that there are cameras everywhere. Even beyond the ones you see. They're watching everything," Nolan informs everyone.

With a gulp, Jackson says, "Shall we?"

The four slowly move down the hallway. All of the small glass windows on every door are dark, leaving an eerie feeling. The numbers pass by and soon, room 324 is before the group, the window just as dark as the others.

In the silence, Nolan hears Camilla whisper to Isaac, "When exactly did our lives become American Horror Story?"

Taking a deep breath, Nolan steps forward and grabs the handle, turning it ever so slightly. When he can no longer turn it, he pushes forward and illuminates the dark room. Peering in, Nolan let's his eyes adjust before he allows anyone else to look into the room.

"Mom?" he calls. When his eyes allow him to see, he spots her near one of the walls, her back facing him. "It's me, Nolan. I brought some friends to see you. We have a few questions."

His mother doesn't speak or move, almost like she didn't even hear her son talking. With a hard blink, Nolan decides it's now or never, and pushes the door open wider.

The rest of the group slowly files in, and the small room quickly fills up. Isaac shuts the door behind them and the room goes dark again, the only light coming from the door's window, and two small windows high towards the ceiling.

Jackson and Isaac can instantly see, but it takes Nolan and Camilla another second. Camilla almost screams when she feels a hand grab at her own, but she calms down when she realizes it was only Isaac.

Nolan clears his throat, "Mom. These are my friends Jackson, Camilla, and Isaac."

Once again, the blonde woman acts as if she hasn't heard a thing.

Camilla looks at Nolan and mouths, "Should I?" to which he nods.

The brunette waits a beat and then speaks up, "Mrs. Hayes, we were wondering if you knew anything about… The Root of Evil?"

Jackson snorts and quietly says, "Way to ease into it, Camilla."

"Well what in the hell am I supposed to say? How's the weather in here?" Camilla hisses back, glaring at the boy.

"Guys," Nolan chastises. "Camilla, you did fine. There's no easy way to go about this."

With a satisfied look, Camilla smirks at Jackson and then speaks again, "Mrs. Hayes, if you know anything, it could really help us… Does Malum Radix ring any bells?"

The room is silent, but everyone notices when Nolan's mom slightly cocks her head, blonde strands of hair swaying a bit.

"Mom? Do you know something?" Nolan urges.

At first the woman says nothing, but after a minute, the group hears whispering.

"Can you guys tell what she's saying?" Camilla asks the wolves.

"No," Isaac answers after straining his ears. "It's too quiet."

"Mom, what is it?"

"Nolan..."

Four pairs of eyes widen as they hear Kelly Hayes speak.

"Yeah, Mom?" Nolan answers after a moment.

"Nolan…" she says again.

"I'm here, Mom. What is it?" the boy asks, moving to kneel beside his mother. "Do you know something?"

Kelly leans in towards her son and whispers into his ear. It only takes a few seconds and she leans away when she's finished.

Nolan frowns and stands back up.

"She said—"

Before he can share, Kelly interrupts him, "To save them all, here's a trick. One by one, the fingers prick."

Nolan chuckles awkwardly, "Yep. That's what she told me."

"To save them all, here's a trick. One by one, the fingers prick," she repeats.

"Is that it?" Camilla asks. "What does it mean?"

"To save them all, here's a trick. One by one, the fingers prick."

"Mom, what does it mean?" Nolan asks after hearing her repeat it again.

"To save them all, here's a trick. One by one, the fingers prick!" she says urgently, this time turning to face the four. It's then they can see that she was a beautiful woman, though it was obvious she wasn't all there.

"Mom, we need more than that…"

"To save them all, here's a trick. One by one, the fingers prick."

A little frustrated, Jackson chimes in, "Camilla rode Isaac's dick."

Nolan gasps and glares at Jackson, "What the hell, dude?"

Before Jackson can defend his words, Kelly speaks again.

"Naughty dogs stay outside."

Jackson's face pales as Kelly glares at him and repeats herself, "Naughty dogs stay outside."

"I think she wants you to leave, Jackson," Camilla suggests, not too upset by the request.

"If I go, Isaac goes too. He's also a 'dog'," Jackson remarks, crossing his arms.

"This is ridiculous, just stay then," Camilla rolls her eyes and moves closer to Kelly. "Hi, I'm Camilla. I'm new here to Beacon Hills just like you. And from your little rhyme, I suppose you also know a thing or two about the supernatural."

Kelly's face softens as she looks at Camilla; she almost smiles.

"To save them all, here's a trick. One by one, the fingers prick…"

"And…?" Camilla urges.

Kelly opens her mouth but closes it quickly, then glances over at Jackson, "Naughty dogs stay outside."

"Fine, I'll go," Jackson surrenders, holding his hands up in defeat. "But I'm not going alone, c'mon, Isaac."

"Really, dude?" Isaac asks, annoyed.

"Naughty dogs stay outside," Jackson tells him with a shrug, opening the door to leave.

The two leave and the room lightens and darkens all in a second.

Camilla shakes her head and turns back to Kelly, "So what else is there?"

"To save them all, here's a trick. One by one, the fingers prick."

Camilla and Nolan look at the blonde expectantly, but she doesn't say another word.

"Mom, please."

Kelly looks at her son, and Nolan can see the sadness in her eyes. He hates seeing her so fragile and weak. He remembers times when he was younger and he thought she was the strongest person in the world. Now she barely even knew her own name.

"Nolan… one by one the fingers prick!" she tells him.

Nolan smiles lightly and moves to take one of her small hands in his, "I know, Mom. You're doing good. Do you remember anymore?"

Kelly struggles to remember, but she doesn't speak. Without warning, the door opens and the woman who let them onto the floor pops in.

"You have five minutes," she tells them with a blank expression. She doesn't stick around for a response and soon the door closes again.

"Mom, we have to leave. Try and remember, okay?"

Kelly frowns sadly and repeats herself, "One by one… the fingers prick… one by one, the fingers prick… one by one…"

Nolan sighs, "It's okay, Mom, don't stress yourself. You need to get some rest, okay? Let's get you into bed."

With Camilla's help, Nolan gets Kelly into her bed and he strokes her hair.

"I'll be back soon okay?" he tells her. The woman nods.

"One by one the fingers prick…" she offers.

Nolan smiles and nods, "You did good, Mom. I love you."

Nolan makes his way to the door and opens it, Camilla behind him.

Nolan leaves, but Camilla stays to say goodbye for a second.

Before she can get a word out, Kelly speaks, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Mrs. Hayes. You did your best," Camilla smiles, her hand on the doorknob.

"No. I'm so, so sorry. So sorry," she says, sitting up in her bed.

Camilla frowns, "It's okay. Get some rest."

She turns to leave when Kelly tells her to stop.

"To save them all, here's a trick. One by one, the fingers prick. To its roots, Evil will stick."

Camilla's eyes widen right as Nolan re-enters, "Camilla, let's go. That lady is getting impatient."

"Nolan, she—"

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," Kelly interrupts, standing up from her bed. "I'm sorry!"

"Mom, it's okay! We have to go now, c'mon Camilla!"

The two leave and Nolan slumps against the door.

"You okay?" Jackson asks, coming up to the boy.

Nolan just shakes his head and allows the blank faced nurse to lead him out of the hall and then into the main area of the asylum. They collect their things just as quickly and silently as they had when they'd left them.

They walk into the parking lot until Isaac isn't able to handle the silence any longer and he asks, "What's wrong with her?"

Nolan stops mid step and Camilla punches her boyfriend in the arm.

"You don't have to answer that…" The girl begins but Nolan shrugs and turns to look at the kids.

"It's just… we don't know. No one does. Sometimes they think she's schizophrenic, sometimes they think she has frontotemporal dementia; sometimes they think it's just acute bipolar disorder. They can't pinpoint it."

"We're sorry," Camilla says slowly.

"So am I. This was a total bust."

The three kids nod their heads and begin back walking to Camilla's car, all the while the dark haired girl thinks about Kelly's words: One by one the fingers prick, to its roots Evil will stick.

\-------

Scott walks downstairs and into the kitchen where he sees his mom sitting at the kitchen table with a mug of steaming coffee before her.

"Morning honey," she says with a smile.

"You're just gonna give me up?" Scott asks, cutting straight to the point.

She takes a long sip of her coffee and then says, "Alright, let's have this talk."

"I have to say dad coming to lacrosse practice to ambush me with custody papers was a great way to find out about all of this."

"Look, Scott, this has everything to do with you and your safety…"

The boy cuts her off, "I'm a werewolf, Mom."

"And that's fantastic, but you know what else you are? You're the scrawny, gawky, braces wearing, inhaler-using sixth grader that I dropped off at middle school not too long ago. I swear I was dropping you off at daycare yesterday. I understand that you're this big, alpha Wolfman now, but Scott, you will always be my inhaler-using little boy."

"Mom, you don't get that I can hold my own."

Melissa shakes her head, "And you don't get that ever since I found out you were a werewolf I have been overcome with anxiety and fear that you're gonna walk out that door and not come back."

"Don't… ah crap, don't cry," Scott says as he rushes over to his mom, grabbing the box of Kleenex on the kitchen island as he moves over to her.

"If I decide to sign those papers," Melissa says, "and that's a big if because I love you with every fiber of my being and not seeing you everyday might kill me, but if I sign those papers it's for your safety and so that I can have some peace of mind."

"How can you just give me up though?"

She shakes her head, "You're not a piece of gum, sweetie. I'm not just giving you up because someone asked for you. And to be honest, I hate that this custody thing is even up for discussion. There's only one thing in the world I want – more than to have all my bills paid off and to have George Clooney come sweep me off me feet – and that's for you to be safe. To know that you're alright and while I'm sure you'll get into your fair share of shenanigans in Virginia you'll be less likely to be attacked by a Darach or a Kanima."

"But I'm a werewolf, and an alpha, trouble will sort of follow me around… no matter where I'm at."

"That may be, but I'd certainly like to know you'll be alive and graduating next year. I want you safe, Scott. That's all I want."

He nods solemnly, "It's just…"

"No, Scott," she says with a worn smile, "we talked. You know where I stand. Now let me make this decision."

\-------

Erica laughs, and it's with that laugh Derek groans and leans back in to continue kissing her.

"I can't stay away from you," he tells her in between kisses. "Your laugh, the way you wrinkle your nose when you're frustrated, the way you bite your lip… I think I'm addicted to you."

Derek moves his head to leave a trail of kisses down Erica's jaw and neck, making the blonde close her eyes and savor the moment.

"I never thought I would ever be head over heels for anyone normal. Well, semi-normal, I suppose. But I definitely didn't expect to fall for you," Derek tells her as he traces circles in Erica's open palm, a small but sensual action.

"Ouch," Erica laughs playfully.

"You know what I mean," Derek tells her.

Erica rests her head on Derek's chest and sighs happily, "I feel like this is too good to be true. In a way it kind of is already. For a second I can have bliss with you, but then reality sets in and life sucks again. I just feel like soon enough this is all going to go away. And I don't want it to."

Derek kisses the top of Erica's head, "Well, I don't know what the future holds, but I can tell you that I will never leave you if I can help it."

"I'm so not used to this yet," Erica smiles.

"Used to what?" Derek wonders.

"You being all romantic and nice. It's a nice change, but I kind of miss the Derek that would give me shit. It fueled my fire."

Derek laughs, "Oh I can give you shit if that's what you want."

Erica runs her hand along Derek's bare stomach subconsciously, "I wonder if Cora's going to walk in on us again."

"I'm surprised she's not back yet," Derek frowns slightly, looking at the clock on the wall.

"Maybe she took your advice and went back home," Erica suggests, snuggling in closer to Derek.

"It'd be the best damn thing she could do. She definitely does not need to get caught up in this Root of Evil mess."

"That's for sure," Erica sighs.

"Hey," Derek says, pulling her chin up so she can face him after noticing her sad tone. "You don't need to get anymore caught up in it either. Don't let your mind go there."

"I know," Erica says sadly. "I try and think about other things, but sometimes it just jumps right back."

"Well, I can always distract you if you want," Derek suggests, leaning in and kissing her neck again.

"I suppose that would be… okay…" Erica answers, feeling a bit distracted like he mentioned.

"And if that's not distracting enough, I could always do this," Derek adds, flipping Erica quickly so that his body lies on top of hers, pressing her into the couch.

Leaning in he kisses her hard and doesn't stop for a few minutes. When they pull apart, Erica laughs.

"Yeah, that can definitely do it," she tells him right before he leans in again.

\-------

 _Why'd_ _I_ _bring_ _a_ _purse?_ Allison asks herself. _It's_ _not_ _like_ _I'm_ _going_ _on_ _a_ _date_ _right_ _now_ …

It's then that she pulls open the door of the brick building and steps inside, listening to the jingle of the bell above the entrance as she does so. Her heels click plainly on the floors as she makes her way to the front counter.

 _And_ _a_ _dress?_ _It's_ _the_ _middle_ _of_ _November_ _for_ _crying_ _out_ _loud_.

"We're not open," calls a male voice from the back. It's a voice Allison didn't know well enough and knew all too well wrapped together.

Swallowing her fears she calls back, "It's urgent."

Without a further word, the man appears in the front of the clinic. The sunlight shines on his bald head in a way that would've made Allison smile under normal circumstances, but today of all days was not the day to be smiling.

The man opens his mouth to speak, but instead a woman's voice rings through the room, "Allison."

The girl's eyes connect with Ms. Morell and then move back to Deaton's. Allison's heart is pounding in her chest so hard she fears the cavity will break open and her heart will come falling out before she has a chance to do what she came here to do.

"What can we do for you?" Deaton asks plainly, his voice crisp.

"I… I think you know," she states, "you should anyway."

Deaton shakes his head, "I'm afraid I can't help you with that."

Tossing her hair over her shoulder, Ms. Morell takes a step forward, "Brother, this is her duty. Let the girl do what needs to be done."

"Marin, please," Deaton insists, "this isn't the time."

"Of course it is. The time is now; you, Allison, and I all know it is. There's no point in delaying things," Ms. Morell locks eyes with Allison now, "Time is of the essence. If you want to go to the Netherworld and have any chance of coming back we need to do it sooner than later."

"We at least need to let the others know," Deaton tells them, defeat in his tone.

Allison shakes her head and straightens her posture, "No. Scott, Camilla, Lydia… none of them can know. I need to get this done and over with – and when I come back they can thank me."

"But your anchor…"

"No, no one can know about this until it's over," she states sternly, "when it's over you can do whatever you want. Tweet about it, post it on Tumblr, I don't care."

It's Marin that gets them focused when she says, "Deaton, prepare the ice bath."

\-------

Camilla taps her pen hard on her desk and stares at the paper in front of her. Ever since she had got home, Camilla has been pondering Kelly's riddle, pouring over every word, even writing the rhyme over and over again.

"…to its roots Evil will stick. WHAT THE HELL?" she yells at herself angrily. "Its roots are evil, because it's the freaking Root of Evil. But where are evil's roots?"

She groans and hits herself in the head lightly, "One by one the fingers prick. Why do they need to prick fingers? What will blood do? And who the hell is they anyways? How is blood going to bring The Root back?"

Camilla stands up and paces her floor, placing the pen in her mouth to chew on, a habit she has had since she was little and can't seem to stop.

"Blood blood blood. Blood is here, The Root is here. We need The Root there, but we can't have blood there because we can't send anyone there… How do we get The Root there if it is here and blood is here. What is here and there?"

Camilla's mind whirs when all of a sudden it hits her.

"The Nemeton. The Nemeton is here, but Allison, Scott, and Stiles said it was there too. Holy shit, a tree has roots. That's The Root's roots! FUCK YES!"

Excited, Camilla rushes to grab her phone and dial Nolan. She groans as the phone rings, begging for the auburn headed boy to answer.

"C'MON NOLAN!" she screams right as he answers.

"Woah, sorry. My phone was under my cat."

"I don't care, because IFREAKINGFIGUREDITOUT!" she slurs into the phone.

"What? You're yelling and talking fast and I didn't understand a word you said," Nolan tells her.

"Nolan, I—" Camilla stops speaking when she hears a loud crack followed by a crash.

"Camilla? What was that? Are you okay?" Nolan asks, but his questions fall upon deaf ears as Camilla drops her phone and rushes towards the noise.

She rips open her bedroom door and heads to the living room where she heard the noises. There, she sees Peter standing over her father who was bleeding from the head.

"So nice of you to join us, pretty lady," Peter smiles. "So sorry to say you'll have to let the big boys fight this one out."

Before she can process his words, Camilla feels a sharp pain fly across her head and she hits a wall. She slumps to the floor and her head spins and throbs from unmanageable pain.

She slowly brings her hand up to her face and feels something wet. She looks up to the ceiling to see if there was a leak, but everything looks normal. She looks back down at her hand and sees the liquid she felt has a dark red color. Blood. That fucker hit her hard.

Using all of her strength, she uses the wall to help her stand back up. When she's up on her feet, she leans against the wall and tries to get past her aching, spinning head.

She looks at the scene before her and sees that her father had too gotten back up on his feet, but he was not faring well.

Peter repeatedly punches him, but Ron doesn't back down. He takes everything and barely falters. He even gets a few hits in himself.

Camilla notices that her father starts to slow down, so she makes her way to the liquor cabinet, where not only was there an abundance of liquor, but also a few weapons. Weapons that could kill werewolves.

She selects a random handgun and cocks it. Peter's head turns as he realizes for the first time that Camilla wasn't still incapacitated.

"Well, I suppose I underestimated you. Bravo," he smirks. He turns to slash at her father one last time, knowing he won't get any more chances, but he isn't quick enough and Camilla fires one shot straight into his head.

Peter's body immediately falls to the floor, just as Ron does when he realizes he doesn't have to fight anymore. On his knees, he observes his attacker's body.

"Right through the brain with a silver bullet," he smiles. "That's my girl."

"Um, holy shit," a voice says from the doorway.

The father and daughter look up and spot Nolan, who was as pale as Peter's dead body.

"I, um, heard the ruckus through the phone, which you abandoned, so I figured I'd check it out. I'm glad I didn't get here sooner," Nolan says weakly, his eyes darting from Camilla to Peter's body.

"Why don't we step outside so you don't have to keep looking at a dead guy, huh?" Camilla suggests, stepping forward and swaying to the side a bit.

"Um, maybe you should sit down. You're bleeding pretty profusely and I suspect you have a concussion at least."

"What the hell?" another voice roars from the door.

"Isaac, welcome to the party!" Ron says with a laugh. "God I have a weird life."

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, I called Isaac too. I figured he'd wanna know," Nolan adds.

Isaac rushes to Camilla's side immediately, "Babe, are you okay? You're bleeding? Is he dead? Did you kill him? Did he hurt you? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Yes, I killed him. Yes, he freaking bitch slapped me. The bastard deserved to die. But that's beside the point, because I figured out the riddle," Camilla tells them. "And we need to go now before anyone does anything else to screw this up. I have a feeling Peter wasn't just here to beat us up, he was here with another agenda. One ordered by The Root."

"Okay, explain on the way to… Where are we going?" Isaac asks.

"Scott's," Camilla tells him, stepping forward again, only to nearly topple over. "Okay, maybe I shouldn't walk."

With that, Isaac scoops his girlfriend up and heads out to his car with Nolan right behind him.

\-------

Lydia sits with her head pressed against the window of the blue jeep, but suddenly she bolts upright, startling Stiles.

"What? What is it?" the boy asks, the strings of his hoodie swaying as he moves about from being scared.

"I'm… its freezing. Stiles, it's absolutely freezing. Can… you've got to turn on the heat," she stammers.

The boy is quick to do so and as the car begins to heat up, Lydia buttons her green coat the rest of the way up. Nothing helps though.

"Do you want my sweatshirt?" Stiles asks worriedly.

Lydia nods and rips the striped hoodie out of Stiles' hands practically before he can get it off. She wraps it around her and zips it up, putting the hood over her strawberry blonde bun. For a minute she thinks she'll be okay when she looks at Stiles and sees his eyes wide.

"What?" she asks him.

"You're… you're blue," he spits out.

Lydia yanks down the mirror to examine herself and gasps when she sees her lips are blue, she looks like she's been thrown into an ice bath. The girl exhales and her breath is visible, even in the heat of the car, and before she knows it she's cold again and her teeth are chattering.

"I'm f-f-freezing," she says through the cold, "what the h-h-hell is g-going on?"

Just then her mouth drops open and a scream pours out.

\-------

Isaac throws the door of the McCall house open and runs inside, calling out "Scott!" as he does so.

He frantically darts into the living room and then hurries up the stairs to check in the boy's room, however when he gets to Scott's room he only finds Melissa, carefree as she hangs up a few of her son's shirts.

"Hey, Isaac," she says with a smile, "what can I help you with?"

"I need Scott," he throws out, "it's an emergency."

She shrugs, "He left for work about thirty minutes ago…"

"Oh no. Oh no no no no no!"

In an instant Isaac is out of the room and running down the stairs and back to the car.

"Is Scott here?" Nolan asks.

Isaac shakes his head, "No, Melissa said he just left for work."

"Shit. We need to go," Camilla demands. "Step on it, babe!"

Isaac does as she tells him and prays they're not too late.

\-------

Derek and Erica rush into Deaton's office and move towards the main care area.

When they enter, the scene before them is chaos.

Camilla, for some reason bloody and battered, sits cradled in Isaac's arms sobbing uncontrollably.

Lydia bawls as Stiles holds her close, tears pouring from his eyes.

Nolan and Jackson hold hands as the two let a few tears glide down, Nolan crying a bit more than Jackson.

But the worst part of the whole scene is the two in the middle of the room. Allison and Scott.

Both of them are soaking wet and not moving. Erica's hand moves to her mouth as she realizes what has happened.

Derek roars and punches the wall nearest to him, leaving several cracks.

"There was another way," Lydia sobs. "There was another way…"

Erica can't move her eyes from the dead brunette before her. She watches as their dead body is held by their significant other, tears pouring from that poor soul's eyes.

"It's all my fault," Camilla moans. "I could've figured it out sooner, I could've… I could've stopped this!" Isaac just holds on tighter as his girlfriend loses her sanity.

"Baby, you couldn't have stopped it. It had already happened. Minds were made up. There was nothing you could've done to stop it. It's not your fault," Isaac whispers to her, kissing her on the forehead over and over.

Camilla can't answer through her cries and she just holds on to Isaac tighter, getting blood from her previous wounds all over him, not that he cared or even noticed.

Erica looks at Scott but looks away fast. She can't bear to see him like that. Just like the image of her parents, she'll never be able to un-see the pain on Scott's face as he looked down at the love of his life, dead. She didn't know what was tears and what was water from the ice bath that took Allison's life.

But when she looks at Allison, she knows she will forever be haunted by the sight.

She looks at peace. Though her lips are blue and her skin is unnaturally pale, she looks so calm and serene. That sight is what brings tears to Erica's eyes. Allison Argent, dead in the arms of Scott McCall, looks like an absolute angel.

\-------

Nolan walks briskly behind the skinny blonde nurse in front of him. The way she speaks is eerily upbeat and different from the nurses he had experienced a few days prior, and her bright pink scrubs seem inappropriate to Nolan – although he doesn't say anything about them.

They stop then, at the familiar tall metal door with a small, bar covered window on it. The nurse beams at Nolan before she turns around and says, "Have a nice visit with your mom and be careful."

She pulls the door open then and escorts Nolan in, shutting the door behind him as soon as he crosses the threshold.

It's dark. Nolan knows his mother prefers it that way, but the darkness makes him uneasy. The scent of the room is stale and rusty and the boy is sure if there were any lights on he'd see the whole place has a covering of mold on it. He relaxes slightly when he hears footsteps and humming in the room and when his mother materializes in the darkness he lets out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

"Mom?" he says, just above a whisper.

"I think somebody better put out the big light," Kelly sings, and although there isn't any music playing Nolan feels certain that there's a tune playing in the room.

"Mom?" he asks again, his heart rate picking up as he says the familiar, yet unfamiliar name.

"Cause I can't stand to see you this way. Allison, I know this world is killing you-u-u-u."

He looks down, knowing his shoes are there but not being able to see them due to his eyes not having fully adjusted to the blackness of the room, "Yeah, mom, my friend Allison sort of…"

"Is she swimming with the fishes, sweetie?"

After the words leave her mouth she bursts into laughter and then stops abruptly.

"Come on everybody," she sings, "I say now let's play a game… I bet you I could make a rhyme out of anybody's name."

"Mom, would you please talk to me? Would you please try to put an idea together and tell me how you knew how to stop Malum without anyone having to die?"

The woman's face changes just then, it's like a missing piece has just been put into a puzzle and suddenly everything makes perfect sense. It was like Kelly had been placed into a new level of clarity and, although it was impossible, Nolan was sure his mother had begun to glow.

"Nolan," she says the name slowly at first, tasting it to make certain it's right. "Nolan," she says again, this time satisfied with how it sounds.

"M-mom?" the boy stutters, confused by the sudden change in his mother.

"Nolan."

"Mommy?"

She rushed to him and places her hands on either side of his face, an intensity fills the room as she says, "Nolan, they're coming."

\-------


	13. I Know What You'll Do This Summer (4x01)

Scott McCall sits down at his desk, absent mindedly fixing the collar of his blue and green striped polo. The boy is quick to pull up his iTunes, playing his favorite Blink-182 song, as he opens up the Firefox icon to be greeted by his Yahoo homepage he sees that a new email awaits him and he opens it up.

Another e-mail from Stiles.

His eyes scan the first line, "Here's my 93rd attempt at getting you to talk to me…"

Scott hits the small trashcan icon and deletes his friend's e-mail, the same way he had with the previous ninety-two. Suddenly the boy hears he father calling his name from down the hall.

"What?" he hollers back.

"Adam and Daniel are here," is his dad's loud reply.

Scott shuts his laptop suddenly and swivels around so he's facing his bedroom door and the large window that allows him to peer out into the warmth of the Virginia summer. When he sees the face of a beautiful girl staring at him in the glass of the window he has to rub his eyes.

It's been seven months since he'd left Beacon Hills.

One hundred and ninety three days since he'd last seen Allison.

He knows that the reflection he'd seen in the window had just been his imagination. Scott knows better than anyone that Allison – the love of his life, the girl he would have been willing to die for – was absolutely and undoubtedly dead.

 _I miss her_ , _I miss them all,_  Scott thinks as he gets up from his seat to go and greet his new lacrosse friends.

He pushes all thoughts of Beacon Hills, of Allison, of Stiles and his mom out of his mind though as he walks briskly out of his bedroom.

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Lydia gracefully settles back into her plastic lounge chair. In her hands is a metal tray with three fresh margaritas beginning to sweat from the summer heat. She leans over and sets the tray on the small table next to her and leans back, anticipating her guests' arrival.

She barely closes her sunglass-protected eyes when she hears the sound of her heavy metal gate swing open followed by the slap of two pairs of flip flops on the hot pavement. She sits back up and plasters a smile on her glossed lips.

"Hello, ladies. These margaritas aren't going to stay chilled for long, so I suggest you drink up," she tells Camilla and Erica when they reach the bay of lounge chairs and settle into two of them on the left side of Lydia.

"Sounds good to me," Camilla says grimly, setting her tote on the ground and grabbing one of the glasses.

Erica grabs one on her way to her seat to the left of Camilla, which puts the brunette between the two. The werewolf takes a sip before sitting down and smiles, satisfied with the heavy amount of liquor Lydia added to the drink.

"Calm down there, wolfy," Lydia comments, noticing Erica's eyes turn a bright shade of gold. "We don't want this little party to get too crazy."

Erica laughs but doesn't get a chance to respond before Camilla speaks.

"Party? You invited more people?"

"Relax! It was just my way of expressing our fun day. It's a party for us three. Is that okay with you?" Lydia responds, eyeing the girl next to her whilst sipping her drink.

"Yeah, sorry, I just wasn't expecting anyone else that's all… Sorry."

Lydia smiles, leaning over to place her hand on her friend's shoulder, "Hey, it's fine. We're all still… you know… not the same. But we have to try and go on because what else can we do, right?"

Camilla smiles and feels Lydia squeeze her shoulder before turning back to get comfortable in her chair.

"Now," Lydia says, "I want to see you strip off those clothes, relax, and get some sun. Maybe have a margarita or three while you're at it."

"I agree," Erica says, unfolding her long legs out onto her chair. The blonde tugs at her shirt and reveals her smooth, slightly pale skin. "Lord knows I need a lotta sun."

"Tell me about it," Lydia replies, gesturing to her paler complexion.

Camilla shakes her head and reaches down to pull of her sundress. Lydia whistles when the brunette reveals her muscular body.

"And when did you get all that muscle? Isaac must keep you busy, huh?" the strawberry blonde questions.

"No, it's nothing. I just started working out more intensely after everything happened. I needed to get my mind to focus on other things… I guess this was it," Camilla shrugs, grabbing tanning oil from her tote and lathering it on to her already naturally tanned skin.

"Well I should have focused less on Air Supply's Greatest Hits and more on the gym apparently," Lydia adds before taking a long sip from her glass.

The three relax for a while with no talking before Erica speaks up.

"So, Camilla, I know you said you weren't really in the party mood, but does that mean you aren't going to Roxy's thing?"

"Ooh, I totally forgot about that!" Lydia exclaims.

Camilla adjusts her black sunglasses on her face as she replies, "I don't know. I mean I want to go, and I know Isaac does too. Maybe we'll stop by and see how it is."

"You should, I'm going, and the last time I was at one of Roxy's parties she was all over Stiles, so I'm going to need some help getting the hipster to stay away from the nerd. Relationships like that don't work," Lydia tells the two matter-of-factly.

"But the nerd and the Queen Bee do?" Camilla asks playfully.

"Well, no, but… I wasn't implying I wanted Stiles, he just… doesn't need to be with someone like her. I'm helping him."

"Sure ya are," Erica smiles. "I'm empty, anyone else need another drink?"

Both other girls raise their glasses and Erica stands to retrieve them and resupply the booze.

"But anyways, Camilla, you and Isaac should definitely come. It's been a while, and I want to be able to sing karaoke with someone tonight," Erica tells her.

"Okay, okay. I'll come. Armpit wouldn't want me moping around anymore," Camilla says with a faint smile.

"That's the spirit," Erica replies, tossing a toothy smile over her shoulder as she walks into Lydia's house to refill the glasses.

\-------

Pushing the door open, Melissa calls behind her, "Just wait in the living room, I'll just be a sec."

Immediately, the brunette is greeted by a puppy bounding across the floor, all ready to pounce upon the woman.

"Well hi there, Maximus!" she greets her puppy friend.

"Oh my gosh," gushes April Avery, one of the doctors Melissa works with. "You weren't kidding when you said how cute he was!"

"He's a keeper, huh?" Melissa smiles, petting the little dog.

"I'd say," April responds.

"Okay, well I just need to let this little guy out, then we can head out to lunch. Where did you say you wanted to go again?" Melissa asks April as she opens the door leading to her newly-fenced backyard.

"Joe's Jazz Bar, it's just this little place I found when I first got here. They've got great food. And great entertainment, there's this one girl there who could seriously make a living from singing. If I had her skills I would not be a doctor, let me tell you that."

"Well thank God you're a good doctor though, we really needed a new director for our trauma center, and you've done wonders for the place," Melissa says while scooping out puppy food for Maximus. The puppy seems to hear the clang of the food in his metal bowl and is soon whining from right outside the door to be let in.

Melissa's hand is on the handle of the door when she hears the bell of the front door ring.

"April, would you mind getting that? Tell them I'll be there in just a minute," Melissa asks her friend who agrees and heads to the door.

Melissa makes sure Maximus is satisfied when he suddenly freezes and starts barking.

"Max, hush!" she scolds. The puppy doesn't stop, forcing Melissa to send him back outside, which is quite a struggle. When she finally gets him back outside, still barking, she turns, only to nearly run into a man she'd thought she would never see again.

"What the hell do you want?" she asks angrily, backing away, a bit frightened of the man.

"We haven't seen each other in how long, and this is how you greet me? Frankly, I'm saddened," he responds.

"Well, shoot, isn't that a shame. How about you go back to wherever you came from and cry about it?" she spits back.

"Or we can get right down to it and I'll get out of your hair so you can go have lunch with your lovely blonde friend, who is quite charming, by the way."

Rolling her eyes, Melissa asks, "What do you want, Deucalion?"

"I just want to speak to your son," he smiles.

Melissa's heart drops at the mention of her son, but she doesn't show any signs of it, responding, "Well, he's not here. And even if he was, you wouldn't be seeing him."

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that," Deucalion responds, snapping out his claws. "Now, let's answer that again, shall we?"

"I'm not scared of you," she tells him before adding, "But I wasn't lying. He isn't here. He moved to Virginia with his father."

Deucalion's disappointment instantly shows on his face in the form of a wrinkled frown.

"Well that dampens my plans…"

Before either can speak again, April interrupts.

"Sorry to barge in, but, Melissa, we should go soon or we won't have much time to eat… what with being hospital workers and all."

"Ah, I was just leaving, Miss…?"

"Dr. Avery or well, Mrs. Avery," April responds with a smile.

"Mrs. Avery," Deucalion repeats. Turning to Melissa, he adds, "I'll be seeing you again soon, my dear, to finish this conversation."

"Don't bother, you've heard all there is to hear," Melissa says in a fake, sweet voice.

"We'll see," he replies, winking at the two women and exiting breezily through the house.

Melissa breathes out a sigh, and glances over at Maximus who hadn't stopped barking.

\-------

"Damn, our boys cleaned it up nice!" Camilla exclaims, shutting the door to her red Cutlass and admiring the new and improved Hale house. "I wonder how good the inside looks."

"It looks awesome, thank you very much," Isaac says, stepping out of the house and beaming at the two girls.

"Does this mean we can officially move in? I'm sick of that cramped apartment," Erica asks, walking up the steps to the porch with Camilla right behind her.

"I think it's all ready for us, babe," Derek replies, slinging an arm around the blonde's shoulders.

"I'm still not used to that," Isaac whispers into Camilla's ear when she reaches him and wraps her arms around his waist, pulling his body up against her own.

The girl laughs and leans her forehead against Isaac's.

"I can smell the sun on your skin," Isaac tells her, inhaling her familiar scent.

Camilla laughs and asks how his day went with finishing up on the Hale house.

"It was fine. But I would've rather been with you all day. I kept imagining you in a bikini," he tells her quietly, snaking his own arms around her tight body.

"Well you've got me now," she tells him, "do with me what you want."

"Here? Right now? On this porch?" he asks playfully serious.

"Please don't," Derek tells them, his arm still around Erica. Isaac and Camilla break away from each other in order to converse with the other couple.

Derek reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a key ring with two keys on it and tosses it to Isaac who catches it with ease.

"That… that is the key to the loft. The new one. I changed the locks since God knows who has a key there. And the other one is a key to this house. Only to be used with my permission. If you ever, ever come into my house without me knowing about it first, you won't be alive to ever walk into it again," Derek tells Isaac.

"Understood," Isaac shakes his head while placing the keys into his own pocket.

"So, everything's moved and we're officially living here?" Erica asks.

"Yep. And now Isaac and Camilla have the loft to themselves," Derek confirms, smiling over at his girlfriend.

"Well, I don't know about Isaac, but an empty place all for us sounds extremely enticing right now, so I think it's time we head out. How's that sound, babe?" Camilla asks, moving her hand to grasp Isaac's.

"You know, I don't understand why we haven't left already," he answers her, and in one motion he sweeps the girl off her feet and into his arms. "Let's go."

Laughing Camilla wraps her arms around Isaac's neck and nods. The two begin their descent down the stairs before Camilla calls out at Isaac to stop.

"I have a housewarming gift for them," she tells him. Without getting down from her boyfriend's embrace, she gets into her purse and pulls out something small enough to fit into her closed palm.

Isaac carries her back up the stairs and brings her in front of Derek and Erica.

"A housewarming gift," she states to the two as she places a condom into Erica's hand. "No need to thank me."

Isaac laughs, and with that, he turns to carry her to her car.

Derek and Erica stay on the porch, watching as the two drive away in Camilla's car.

"This is such a Camilla present," Erica says.

"I could not agree more," Derek responds, shaking his head with a smile. After a beat or two, he adds, "Wanna go use it?"

"Hell yes," the blonde responds, turning and grabbing Derek's hand to pull him into the house.

\-------

The song  _Royals_  by Lorde plays softly throughout the dimly lit coffee house. Nolan maneuvers with an unbelievable grace around two of his coworkers and stops when he reaches a thin, olive skinned woman who is looking over the drink menu with a painfully careful eye.

"Welcome to JavaPit," Nolan says to her with a smile, pulling out a pad and pen to take her order, "what can I get for you this afternoon?"

The woman sighs and scrunches her nose, "What are your thoughts on the caramel white chocolate latte?"

"If you're a fan of sweets it's definitely the drink for you," he answers honestly, "of course if you're looking for something more coffee-y, then I'd recommend the vanilla hazelnut roast."

The woman flashes him a smile and sets her menu flat down on the table, "Then I'll have the vanilla hazelnut."

Nolan nods and hurries away to get his customer her drink. This time he just narrowly misses his coworker Ellis when he turns around.

"Watch out," the woman at the table chuckles, "puppy crossing."

Pushing her comment out of his mind, Nolan continues on toward the barista who snatches the piece of paper with the drink order on it out of his hands practically before he has it removed from the notepad. He's only been working there for about half an hour, but he's fairly certain Richie the barista hates him.

"Hey newbie," Ellis says as she comes walking up to him, "table three requested to sit in your section."

Nolan nods his head and plasters a smile on his face; he walks away from the counter and toward table three. It's then he feels a weight dropped on his chest. At the round table sits three people; two boys and a girl. He doesn't even have to see their faces to know who they are.

Swallowing his pride, the boy walks to the table and says clearly and curtly, "Welcome to JavaPit, how can I service you today?"

Lydia looks up at him and beams, "Well if it isn't the best new coffee fetcher around."

"I can think of a way you can service me," Jackson says smoothly. Nolan glances at him, pushing away all the pent up feelings he's had the last five months to stare at his notepad.

"Do you have tea?" asks the British boy beside Jackson.

The lacrosse player elbows his boyfriend, "Fitz, it's Nolan."

Fitz looks up and smirks at his waiter, "Okay, do you have tea,  _Nolan_?"

"It's a coffee shop… we serve coffee. If you're looking for tea I'm sure it's not too late to catch a flight back to the UK."

Lydia lets out a laugh and Jackson snorts, evoking a glare from Fitz who slumps back in his chair and says, "I'll have a cup of decaf."

Rolling his eyes, Nolan smiles down at the strawberry blonde and asks, "What can I get you?"

"I'll have a Campfire Cooler," she answers.

"And I'll have…" Jackson begins, but before the boy can finish Nolan is walking away. While ignoring a customer wasn't a smart idea – especially on your first day – Nolan felt it was within his right to ignore the werewolf who'd kicked him when he was down.

"I need a Campfire Cooler and a decaf cup," Nolan tells Richie, sliding the order across the counter to him. In the same motion he grabs the vanilla hazelnut coffee for the woman at table two and turns around just as Jackson reaches him.

Nolan pushes past him and continues to the table.

"So what, I just don't exist now?" the lacrosse player asks.

"In a perfect world," is Nolan's cold reply.

The boy sets the latte down on the woman's table and she glances up at him sweetly, "Looks like that wolf is howling at the wrong moon."

"I'm not sure if he's so much a wolf as he is a horse's ass," Nolan smirks, "but your total is four eighty six, you can pay at the register. Have a great day."

"You too," the woman replies as Nolan walks away.

Walking back to the counter, Nolan is once again greeted by Jackson. The more muscular boy looks extremely attractive to Nolan in his dark blue bro-tank, and as much as he hates to admit it he wants nothing more than to have those arms wrapped around him.

"Can we talk please?" Jackson asks.

"What's there to say, Jackson? You made your choice. The second Mr. Bean came in from England second semester it was like poof, pow I was gone. Nonexistent. In fact I thought maybe I'd accidentally become the Invisible Man. You chose your precious Fitz, the first boy you ever... whatevered with.  So you can take him around town and show him off to everyone else for the rest of your life. What you two do together isn't really any of my business."

"I can't even ask how your mother's doing?"

Nolan places his hands flat on the counter, "You're asking about my mother? Now that isn't any of  _your_  business. You didn't give a rat's ass when we were… whatever we were; why would you care now?"

"Look, I'm sorry…"

Nolan reaches toward the boy talking to him and swiftly wraps his hand around Lydia's drink, "Don't bother. It's summer, so as long as you find another place to get your cup of joe, we can avoid any more incidents like this."

It's then the inevitable collision happens. Nolan turns and runs into his fellow server, Preston, spilling the Campfire Cooler all over both him and the other boy. Their black button down, black pants, green apron uniform drenched in the sweet smelling coffee drink. Accepting defeat, Nolan allows the plastic cup the drink was in to fall to the floor and just shakes his head as he apologizes profusely to his coworker.

Jackson hands Preston a handful of napkins and then asks coolly, "So is now a bad time to ask if you're going to Roxy's party tonight?"

\-------

Music pounds so loudly the house is shaking. Lydia stands casually against the wall talking to several girls from her Women's Studies Class, when her attention is pulled from the girls to the two people who suddenly appear in the doorway.

It's almost like the music stops.

"What the holy hell?" Lydia asks through clenched teeth. Ignoring the questions of the girls, Lydia pushes out of the group and up to the boys who are standing right on the stoop.

She walks right up to one of them and slaps him hard across the face.

His head snaps to the side as her hand makes contact with his cheek and as he turns back to her he smiles, "Good to see you too, Lydia."

"Care to explain why the hell it is you twisted twins are crashing this party, Aiden?" she spits out viciously.

He leans toward her and whispers breathily, "I missed you."

Lydia scoffs, "I'm not a bone you can bury and come back to when you're bored. I'm not sure how things work in the Animal Planet, but in the real world when someone leaves town under false pretenses they usually stay gone."

"Ethan?" comes Danny's voice.

"Hey, Danny-boy," the twin smiles, "did ya miss me?"

Rolling his eyes, Danny walks away. Ethan is quick to follow him, apologies falling out of the boy's mouth with every step he takes.

"So," Lydia begins, pursing her lips, "you were just about to tell me that you're here because…?"

"Let's go get me a drink," Aiden insists, "I'll tell you once I've got a little liquid courage."

Grabbing the girl's hand, Aiden leads her towards the keg.

Outside in the dark night and down the hill and to the street sits a black Mercedes Benz, the windows are tinted black and to the average passerby it looks empty. However, inside sits a man behind the steering wheel, he smoothly pulls out a thin phone from his pocket and places it to his ear, allowing it to ring.

The other line never picks up and Deucalion frowns, but doesn't hang up. He clears his throat, preparing to leave a voicemail.

After the infamous beep he speaks, "Hello, Scott. It's your old pal, Deucalion. I'm here in Beacon Hills, and I would love to have a chat with you, but, what do you know, you're not here. Now, I was unaware of the, er, tragedy that had bestowed itself upon you and your friends, so I understand your reasoning behind moving. However, I have an agenda of my own, and it includes you, so I suggest you consider a return to this place you once called home, or I just might have to gut your mother and her new puppy Maxipad, or whatever she calls it. Now, I like Melissa and I would hate doing that, so all I request is your cooperation in returning. You have one week. See you then, Scotty."

Satisfied, the man hangs up the phone and slides it into his pocket.

\-------

Aiden's hands wrap around Lydia's hips as he pushes her against the wall and meshes his lips with her's. The shorter girl lets out a whimper as she gives in to the kiss, allowing the boy to consume her. As much as she hates it, the kiss feels wonderful. It's like a thousand sparks are shooting off of the werewolf's mouth as he deepens the kiss.

Across the room Stiles looks down at his scuffed sneakers. It feels like someone has a hand around his heart and is squeezing it as he watches the girl he loves makeout with a guy who had helped kill Boyd. He felt betrayed, he felt like his girlfriend was cheating on him – of course Lydia wasn't his girlfriend and she never had been…

"Stiles!" shouts a girl who is right in front of the boy before her realizes it, "Oh my god hi!"

"Hey, Rox," Stiles smiles, "what's the haps?"

She beams at him, "Just living life, taking time for what's mine. What's new with you, cutie?"

Although he didn't have much experience with girls, Stiles wasn't blind to the fact that Roxy was into him. The way she tossed her hair over her shoulder, how her cheeks flushed with color when he said her name, the way she listened to him so intently when he told her that he'd just finished his Star Wars marathon earlier in the day… Roxy Daribon was definitely crushing on the young Stilinski.

Well, if Lydia could touch tongues with any old riff-raff that blew into town, why couldn't he?

"Hey, Roxy, why don't you show me around? I don't think I've been in this house since I was like ten," the boy laughs as he connects his hand with her's, allowing her to lead him down the hall.

 _Two can play this game, Lydia Martin_ , Stiles thinks.

The pair walk past the front door just as Nolan enters, Stiles says hi to him and hears the boy reply just as Roxy pulls him up the stairs.

Nolan shakes his head at the two and looks around for familiar faces when he spots Camilla and Isaac heading towards him.

"Okay, I just got here, what's the what?" Nolan asks when they are close enough.

"Hey, Nolan," Camilla replies. "Not much really, Lydia and Aiden, Stiles and Roxy, just your typical high school slut fest. And I hate to leave you hanging, but Isaac and I were just about to leave…"

"What? No! I barely know anyone here, and the people I do know are sucking face with either each other or someone else. Please just stay for a little bit longer… Or, no! I'll just come with you! Parties really aren't my thing, let's just hang at Kirk's or something…" Nolan rambles, trying to convince the couple.

"Um, well, Nolan, we weren't really planning on going to the diner, we were just going to go home…" Isaac tells him unsurely.

"Oh! I get it! You're not really feeling like being around people, that's cool! We can just chill at the loft then! Are Erica and Derek going to be there too?" Nolan asks with a smile.

"Well… no. They just moved into the Hale house today… we've got the loft to ourselves now…" Isaac says, trying to get Nolan to realize their real reason for leaving.

"Oh, that's fun. We could watch movies or we could-" Nolan suggests excitedly.

"Nolan, we—" Isaac starts.

"Nolan, we want to go home and fuck okay?" Camilla blurts out, obviously agitated.

The color drains from Nolan's face as he realizes all the hints he missed.

"Oh my god, wow. I'm dumb. Sorry. Of course, go, go. Go get freaky, I'll be fine here. It's fine," he tells them.

Camilla smiles and pulls Isaac out the door as he yells sorry to Nolan.

The auburn haired boy waves goodbye with a small smile. He sighs when the door shuts and he realizes he actually has to mingle now.

\-------

"Cops!"

"Oh shit, the police are here!"

"Let's go, assholes!"

Kids all throughout the Daribon house are panicking - putting out joints in potted plants, pouring alcohol down the sink or grabbing as many bottles as they can before they flee the scene. For his part, Nolan sets his red solo cup down on the piano bench and allows the stranger who grabs his hand to pull him into a closet.

Nolan's heart is pounding as whoever he's with shuts the door behind them.

"Thanks," Nolan whispers to his unknown savior.

It's then the boy hears the click of a light and sees who he's with.

"No problem," Jackson smirks, "I'm sure you can think of some creative way to say thank you."

Nolan shuts his eyes and slaps his hand to his forehead, "I wish you would've just let me get arrested."

"On the plus side, we can finally talk."

"Or you could give me a root canal, I'm sure that would be more pleasant."

Jackson raises an eyebrow, "Is talking to me really that unbearable? Do you honestly hate me?"

Nolan shifts uncomfortably in the closet and sighs, letting his wall down, "If you really want to know, I sort of want to smash your face. You pursue me for weeks, we nearly go all the way, we suffer the loss of one of our friends, and when I start going to visit my sick mother you start losing interest. And then Dr. Who shows up after winter break and it's like you're back in London. I hate the situation, Jackson."

"Nolan," Jackson begins, but the boy in question continues on.

"…I hate that I'm just some townie trash and he's the foreign fantasy."

Silence falls over the two; a slight murmuring comes from outside the door. Nolan feels his breath hitch in his lungs as Jackson pulls the string and turns off the light. Darkness fills the room and without warning Nolan feels hands on his waist and before he can protest Jackson pulls him closer and places his lips gently on Nolan's.

The moment it starts it ends, Nolan pushing Jackson away even though he doesn't want to.

"W – why'd you stop me?"

"Because, I refuse to be your dirty little secret, Jackson, so you stay on your side of the closet and I'll stay on mine until we can escape without fear of being taken away by the BHPD Blue."

Jackson can vividly hear Nolan slide to the floor of the closet and sit down, undoubtedly pulling his knees to his chest just as he did whenever he was anxious… and the fact that Jackson was the cause of this anxiety was like a hard punch to the face.

Outside the closet and through the foyer to the front porch, two deputies make their way up the porch stairs and try to peer into the windows of the house. The blonde, Donna, gets to the door first and pounds her fist loudly on the heavy wood door.

"Police, open up party people!" she hollers.

Ben, the other deputy, shakes his head and waits patiently.

After a moment, Roxy opens the door, adjusting her partly skewed glasses.

"Hello, officers, can I help you?" she asks quietly.

"Yes, you can. We have a noise complaint from one of your neighbors. May we come in?" Donna asks with a snarky smile, knowing very well why the occupants of the house were being so noisy.

"Um, sure, yeah," the hipster girl responds, pulling the door open wider and gesturing for the two to come in.

"What's your name, kid?" Donna asks, stepping into the house and looking around.

"Roxy… Roxy Daribon."

"And this is your house?"

"Yes. Well, it's my parents' house. They're gone for the week."

"Ah, so you're throwing a party, huh?" Donna asks, turning back to look at the nervous girl.

"Uh, no ma'am. It's just me and my friend," she responds, gulping.

"And where's your friend?"

"I'm right here, Donna Lamb," Stiles says from the top of the stairs.

"Stiles, hey man!" Ben says, recognizing the boy instantly.

"Ben Hunt! How ya been?" Stiles greets him with a handshake when he gets to the bottom of the stairs.

"You know, same ol' same ol'."

"Ben, that's enough. Does your dad know you're here?" Donna asks.

"Yes, Donna, he does. Does he know you're harassing Roxy over here?" he retorts.

Donna clucks her tongue and shakes her head, "Oh, don't tell me you're gonna go running to Daddy telling him your friend couldn't handle a little badgering after there was a complaint about noise and possible underage drinking."

"Underage drinking? Are you crazy? It's just me and Roxy, I don't see any bottles or wasted kids around here, do you?" Stiles asks, gesturing around the house.

"Well if it's just the two of you, why was there a noise complaint?" Donna asks, adjusting her stance.

"We like to have fun, don't we Rox?" Stiles asks, shrugging his shoulders while Roxy nods nervously.

Donna looks from one kid to the other until finally saying, "Alright, Stilinski. You got outta this one, but don't be so sure about next time."

"Okay, Deputy. Whatever you say, have a nice night. See ya, Ben!" he says.

"Later, Stiles," Ben nods in the boy's direction before following Donna out the door.

After Stiles and Roxy watch the two get into their car and drive away, Stiles relaxes a bit.

"That was a close one," Roxy sighs.

"Eh, Donna's not smart enough to spot underage drinking if it were right under her nose. Which, it really was," Stiles laughs.

Turning to face the rest of the house, Roxy yells, "Cops are gone, people! Party on!"

\-------

With their hands still tangled around each other and their mouths still attached, Isaac and Camilla finally burst into the apartment after trying to get it unlocked for a few minutes. Isaac somehow manages to shut the door without breaking apart from Camilla, and their make out session rages on.

Fumbling to get to the couch, the two nearly trip, and laugh when they manage to stay on their feet.

"This is ridiculous," Isaac growls playfully, once again scooping up Camilla into his arms and moving to carry her into the bedroom.

"No wait," she stops him, breathing heavily into his ear. "Did you grab any…?"

"Shit, no. And there's none in the bedroom either, we just used the last one… Um…"

"My purse!" Camilla exclaims. "I have some from the ones I threw in for Derek and Erica."

"Thank God," Isaac replies, kissing Camilla to thank her as well. Still carrying her, he moves to where she haphazardly threw her purse when they first entered the loft and searches around for a condom.

His hand comes against something heavy and metal and he pulls it out, only to reveal a knife.

Not letting Camilla see his discovery, he immediately shoves it back into her purse and pretends not to have pulled it out, but the mystery as to why she had a hunter's knife in her purse was still roaming his mind. He finally grabs what he is looking for and shoves the knife mystery into the back of his head.

"Got it," he tells her happily, kissing her harder this time.

"Now we can continue," she breathes into his ear, biting it as she speaks.

Isaac growls and begins to take her to the bedroom again. He stops and presses her against a wall and kisses her for a bit, all thoughts of the knife completely gone from his mind. He pulls his face away and stares deeply into her eyes.

"You're beautiful," he whispers.

"Take me to the bedroom," she whispers back, her hushed voice exciting his every sense.

He obeys her commands and slams the door behind them.

\-------

Scott sits at the kitchen table with his dad sitting across from him. Both men sit with solemn expressions, knowing that neither one of them wants what is about to happen to happen.

"You're sure?" Rafael asks his son. "You're really sure?"

"I think it's time," Scott says, trying to keep his voice even – trying his hardest not to let his panic show, "I miss my friends. I miss Stiles and Lydia and Camilla… I haven't seen any of them since the funeral. Plus it would be nice to see mom."

Rafael knocks on the table, "This isn't like you leaving for good is it? I thought we were getting along pretty well here, Scott."

"No, no way dad. I like living here, I've got friends now and school was great, but… I wanna go back to Beacon Hills."

"And you're sure?"

Scott nods his head and forces himself to smile, "I want to... I need to go back to Beacon Hills."

**_\-------_ **


	14. Mama I'm Coming Home (4x02)

Camilla's feet pound loudly on the pavement beneath her as she runs, gripping a knife in her hand. She curses under her breath due to the loud echoes of her footsteps bouncing about the large, abandoned building.

Up ahead, she spots a place to hide, and she moves toward it quickly. Her brown hair is plastered to her forehead from sweat and her clothes are torn. Blood drips from cuts on her arms, and she can feel bruises beginning to form, but she pays no attention to any of it.

She finally gets to her hiding place and she nearly screams when she spots a mannequin just before her.

 _I must be in some old clothing factory_ , she thinks to herself.

Wasting no time, she ducks under a rusted metal table and tries to slow her breathing down. Her heart pounds in her ears, but she tries to ignore it and listen for the footsteps she knew had to be somewhere near her.

She adjusts the knife in her hand and prepares herself for her attacker. In a crouch, she stays silent and ready for whatever is to come.

All of a sudden, she hears a slashing sound followed by the thud of a blade hitting something hard. The next thing she knows, she sees the head of the old mannequin falling to the floor and rolling toward her hiding place.

Camilla repositions herself, knowing her attacker was here, and was ready to fight. She listens for any sounds that could give away the attacker's position but she hears none. Her eyes focus on the blank face of the mannequin's head, which had just come to a complete rest right before her.

Its eyes showed no expression and had nothing to them. They were empty, just like Camilla felt.

The next thing Camilla knows, she is being ripped from underneath the table, strong arms grasping her sides and pulling the girl's body away from her cover.

Camilla tries to wrestle herself out of the strong grip, but the attacker responds by grabbing her tighter and shoving her to the floor with hard force.

Camilla's head bounces off of the ground, and the dark room goes even darker. Her head spins and she feels her knife being ripped from her hands. She tries to focus and struggles to free herself from the grip of her attacker, but their strength and her head injury prohibits her escape.

In one quick move her attacker moves on top of her still-struggling body, making it impossible for Camilla to move any part of her body more than an inch. She feels the hands of her assailant pin her arms down to the cold floor and she struggles to make out the outline of who was on top of her as her vision blurs and comes in and out of focus.

Exhausted and injured, Camilla's strength leaves her body and she gives up, knowing she couldn't find a way to remove herself from the attacker's grasp.

She shuts her eyes for a moment and when she reopens them, she can finally make out the perpetrator.

Graham lays on top of her with a smirk on his face and little beads of sweat on his forehead.

When he notices her looking at him he asks, "Do you give up?"

"Well, considering you gave me a concussion, yeah, I'd say so," she spits back.

"That was your fault, not mine," he responds as he lifts himself off of Camilla, reaching down to help her up as well.

Camilla grabs his outstretched hand and pulls herself into a sitting position, her head spinning. She tries to stand up after a moment, but both her head and Graham make it so she can't.

"That's not a good idea, cupcake," Graham says to her.

"Don't call me that," Camilla replies, putting her head between her legs and trying to breathe.

"Sorry, force of habit," he says to her sheepishly. "Anyways, you did a lot better today. Your choice of hiding place was laughable, but you did good fighting back. We'll work on defense more next time."

Camilla opens her eyes and looks around at her surroundings, instantly spotting the mannequin's head.

"Was it really necessary to cut her head off?" she asks.

"Nah, just looked fun. And it was. I haven't killed anything in a while, so I like to take all the action I can get," Graham tells her, walking over to the head and nudging it with his foot.

Camilla shakes her head and instantly regrets it when her vision starts blackening again.

"Dammit, I'm pretty sure I have a concussion," she tells Graham.

She watches as he walks over to her knife that he discarded during the struggle and picks it up, turning it over in his hands.

"You'll be fine. Just have your dad keep an eye on you."

"Knowing him, he'll probably be proud. When I told him I started training again he was bouncing off our walls," Camilla reveals to Graham, who smiles at the thought of Ron's excitement.

Shaking his head, Graham says, "C'mon, Camilla, let's get you cleaned up. Wouldn't want your boyfriend worrying about you and then seeing how torn up you are."

Grabbing Graham's once again outstretched hand and slowly pulling herself to a standing position, Camilla scoffs, "Will you please stop bringing him up? I'll just start training with my dad if you're going to hang it over my head that I'm lying to my boyfriend about hunter training every time we work together."

"Sorry, babe," he replies handing her knife and shrugging.

"And stop calling me nicknames," she tells him with a scowl.

Graham laughs and walks alongside Camilla, who very shakily begins to make her way out of the building.

The two finally make it out and back to their cars. Graham walks Camilla to hers and leans into her window once she gets inside.

"So practice again tomorrow at 7?" he asks, his eyes squinting from the bright sun.

Camilla nods her head.

"Alright, see you then," he tells her. "Try and fix up your wounds the best you can, I want to go at the same pace tomorrow, okay?"

Camilla nods again and starts her car. Graham steps back from her car and watches as she drives away.

When Camilla is far enough away, she slows down and pulls over to the side. She pulls out a mini first aid kit and starts cleaning the cuts and scrapes she could see.

With a sigh, she looks into her rearview mirror and observes herself, taking note of her messy hair and flushed cheeks.

Man, did she love training.

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Melissa sets down the feather duster she had been using for the past half hour and collapses onto her couch. She leans her head back and shuts her eyes, tired from all the cleaning she had done that morning.

After a moment, her peace is ruined when her puppy Max starts barking.

"Uhhhhhhhh!" she says out loud, opening her eyes to find out why her dog was barking.

She spots the dog by the front door, crouched low under a table, growling.

A frown crosses Melissa's face as she wonders why Max was barking. He usually only barks when he was hungry, had to go outside, or, as she recently found out, when a werewolf, such as Deucalion, was around.

The thoughts connect in her mind as she recalls Deucalion's threat. She instantly jumps up and runs to the front door, locking it quickly. Slowly, she makes her way to the window that looked out on her front porch, and peers outside.

Her eyes scan the porch, but she sees nothing. Not even in her yard. No odd cars line up on her curb, either.

Breathing out a sigh of relief, Melissa turns back to the puppy, who was still growling.

"Maxy, are you hungry? Are you a hungry puppy?" she asks in a cutesy little voice, the way she always talked to her dog.

Her dog's ears perk up and he stops his growling.

"Ah, that must be it, then. You scared Mama, you really did, you stinker!" she fake-scolds him, moving about her house towards Max's food bowl.

She grabs a scoop from its place on a shelf and digs it into the puppy's food.

Suddenly, Max's growling and barking starts up again, and Melissa rolls her eyes.

"Can't you see I'm getting your food, puppy? Calm down, you hungry boy."

But his barking just gets louder, making it so Melissa can barely hear her back door open. Her eyes widen as she listens to the familiar creak of its hinges.

Since her back door opened to her laundry room, Melissa is unable to see the door and who had opened it. She wasn't sure she really wanted to see it.

Quickly, she moves to hide in the hallway right next to the laundry room, waiting for her intruder to come out from the room.

Loud footsteps make their way across the floor, and Max, still barking, suddenly rushes toward the laundry room, ready to attack.

"What the hell?" Melissa hears a familiar voice say from inside the room. "Um, sit! No, stop! Sit, dog!"

"Scott?" Melissa asks, shocked to hear her son's voice in person rather than on the phone.

"Mom, get this dog away from me!" he yells.

Melissa moves out of the hallway and into the doorway of the laundry room where she sees her son, in the flesh.

She rushes forward, ignoring her puppy's growls, and wraps her son in a loving embrace.

"Scott, what are you doing here? You nearly scared me to death!" she asks with her arms still wrapped around Scott, breathing in his familiar scent.

"I'll tell you when you get this dog off of my ankles!" Scott says jumping around to get away from Max.

"Oh, right, sorry," Melissa says. "Max! Let's go outside!"

She moves over to the door and opens it, ushering the puppy to go outside. Reluctantly, and still eyeing Scott, he trots out the door and into the backyard.

Scott breathes out a sigh and runs his hand through his hair.

"What the hell did you get a dog for, Mom?" he asks, a small smile on his face.

Melissa eyes her son, a little embarrassed, "Well, after you left, it was just so lonely here. And I couldn't exactly adopt another son…"

"So you replaced me? With a dog?" Scott laughs. "Very fitting, Mom."

Melissa laughs and shakes her head, "I guess I did, without realizing it."

Scott smiles lightly and looks at his mom.

"I really missed you," he tells her.

"You have no idea how much I missed you. How have you been?"

Scott's smile fades and his eyes move down to the floor, "You know… same ol' same ol'."

Melissa looks at her son with a sad expression, feeling pain in her heart for him.

"Well, you must be hungry, you're always hungry. Let's get you something to eat and you can tell me why in the hell you decided to come home in the middle of the day without any warning," Melissa tells her son, placing her hand on his back and guiding him into the kitchen.

She opens the fridge and pulls out various things to make Scott a sandwich as he takes a seat on a stool.

"Well, for starters, I got a call from Deucalion," Scott begins.

\-------

Lydia watches intently as Nolan refills an elderly man's cup of coffee at the other end of the counter. The old man's eyes light up and he says "Thank you," quietly before he returns to reading his book. Nolan quickly comes back over to his friend and smiles at her as she takes another bite of her blueberry muffin.

"So why are you working here?" the girl asks the boy.

Nolan looks down at the shiny surface of the counter and sighs, "My dad and I are sort of broke. I mean my mother's medical bills are huge these days and we moved across the country last year… money's just tight. And yeah, he's a professor, but all the extra money he has goes to food and other necessities. Plus, college is coming up and I'd prefer not going to UC Beacon Hills."

Lydia nods, "Totally understandable, although, UCBH's science program is just as good as any Ivy League's."

"I'm sure it's a great school," Nolan agrees, "but my dad teaches there and also I'd really like to go to a school where I don't have to worry about Roots of Evil showing up."

"Hey, the Root is gone."

Silence falls over the two friends as Lydia goes to silently eating her muffin. The two of them know very well that the Root is gone, hopefully forever. Suddenly the bell that hangs above the JavaPit's door jingles and in walks a tall man and a thin, African American woman, and as Nolan sees the woman he points her out to Lydia.

"That woman is a freak," the boy remarks, "the other day she was in here and was making all these weird comments about Jackson and I... she tipped well though. Twenty bucks on a four dollar drink is way over twenty percent."

Lydia turns around, her long braid swinging to the side as she does so.

"Oh no," she says just above a whisper before whipping back around.

"What?"

"That man, his name is Deucalion, he's this demonwolf Alpha guy and he's bad news, Nolan. I'm guessing too that if that woman is with him that she's an Alpha too."

"That explains all her dog puns," Nolan explains.

"Dog puns?"

"When she was in here last time she was making dog puns, I thought she was just a weirdo… definitely not an Alpha… and, uh, she's waving. What do I do?"

Lydia's eyes widen, "Wave. Back."

Plastering a fake smile on his face, Nolan waves gently at the apparent Alpha, hoping that the music that was playing throughout the coffee shop and the noise of the other occupants was enough to prevent the two Alphas from being able to hear what he and Lydia had just been saying.

\-------

Erica's hair wildly blows in the wind, her fingers drumming on the steering wheel as she drives along the road.

The blonde's lips move as she sings along to the radio, currently playing a song by The Killers.

Ever since she got her car, she had loved to go out and just drive, letting the wind breeze through her scalp, the sun kiss her skin, and the radio blast her favorite songs.

Suddenly, Erica notices a police car parked on the side of the road up ahead, and the girl pushes lightly on her brakes, trying to get her speed down to the legal limit.

"Shit," she says quietly, watching the speedometer go down, but not down far enough as she cruises by the cop.

"Don't start driving, don't start driving, don't start driving," she mutters to herself, keeping an eye on the car.

Her mutterings don't work, however, and the car pulls away from its spot and its lights start flashing.

"Dammit!" she yells, slamming her hand on the wheel and slowing down even more to pull over.

The cop follows her to the side of the road and comes to a stop right behind her.

Erica waits and watches as a young cop steps out of the vehicle and makes his way over to her car.

When he stops right next to her door, Erica speaks up.

"Hello, officer," she greets him sweetly, flashing a bright, white smile.

"Good afternoon, ma'am. I'm Officer Hunt," he tells her, smiling lightly.

"Nice to meet you Officer Hunt, my name's Erica," she says even sweeter than before.

"Hello, Erica. Do you know why I pulled you over?" he asks, smirking.

Erica plays dumb, "Is it just a routine traffic stop? Is one of my lights out, Officer Hunt?"

The cop laughs, "You can call me Ben, and no, neither of those are my reasons for pulling you over. You were speeding."

Erica notices how cute his nose looks when it crinkles from him laughing, and she suddenly has the desire to make him laugh again.

"Well, crap. Was I? I'm pretty sure I was going the speed limit," she tells him.

"Well if the speed limit changed from 55 to 80 overnight and no one told me, then I owe you an apology. But I'm pretty sure it didn't," Ben tells her.

"Holy shit," Erica mutters softly.

"Holy shit is right," Ben says, making Erica blush since he wasn't supposed to hear her. "Are you late for something? Did you have a nail emergency?"

Erica frowns, "No, Officer Sexist, I did not have a nail emergency."

"I told you, call me Ben," he responds with a smirk.

Shaking her head, she says, "Well, Ben. No I'm not late, I just wasn't really aware I was speeding. I got a little carried away."

"Yeah, I saw you singing, was anything good playing?"

Blushing once again, Erica speaks to him, saying, "Yeah, a pretty good Killers song, actually."

"The Killers, huh? I'm impressed, all the girls I know listen to John Mayer and Justin Bieber."

"Well, John Mayer has his moments, but maybe that just means you should be hanging around with different girls," she suggests.

"Erica, are you trying to flirt with me to get out of getting a ticket?" Ben asks, still smiling.

"That depends," she answers, "is it working?"

Ben laughs and shakes his head playfully, "Now that would be unethical. So I'm going to have to ask for your license and registration, please."

Erica obliges and hands Ben what he asked for, their hands lightly brushing up against each other's.

"Erica Reyes… that sounds familiar…" Ben says, thinking out loud.

"Erica Reyes, the only survivor of the Reyes family, the rest having been slaughtered last year," she tells him bluntly with a sad expression.

Ben's expression turns sorrow filled and he speaks to her, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to… I was just—"

"Hey, Ben, don't worry about it. You didn't know I was going to be an asshole about it. And for that I'm sorry," Erica tells him honestly.

"Don't apologize. I know exactly what it's like to have people only know you for one thing and never let you forget that one thing…" he trails off.

"Well, I've never heard of you before, so it looks like people are starting to forget. Maybe there's hope for me," Erica suggests.

"There's always hope, you just gotta know where to look for it."

Erica smiles, finding solace in his words. Before she can say anything, he speaks again.

"Well, I'm going to go run you through the system, make sure you don't have any warrants for arrest."

"Oh, you might find something in there about a recent bank robbing, but I swear it's nothing to worry about," Erica says coolly, smiling at her joke.

"Ah, we've all robbed a bank or two, I'm sure it's nothing," he responds, smirking at her and making his way back to his car.

Erica watches him walk away, taking time to notice how nice his butt looked in his uniform pants. Absentmindedly, Erica fiddles with the hem of her black lace shirt.

"You have a boyfriend, Erica," she reminds herself quietly.

A few minutes pass until Erica sees the door open and Ben step out. He walks back with her information, plus another piece of paper in his hands.

"Dammit, he gave me a ticket," she mutters angrily.

He reaches her door again and hands her back what she gave him, keeping the new piece of paper.

"Well, Erica, I cleared your charges for the robbery, so you should be okay for a while unless you rob another bank anytime soon," he jokes. "And also I didn't give you a ticket for today, just because I know how distracting The Killers can be, especially if you're in the moment."

"Ben, you rock," she tells him honestly.

"However," he adds, smiling at her compliment, "you do have some other outstanding tickets, and you're running out of time to pay them, so I suggest you come down to the station sometime this week and take care of those. I wish I could do something, but my hands are tied here."

"No, I totally understand, you've done enough. Thank you," she says, her eyes softening.

"I might be able to help you out a little bit, so if you do decide to come in, make sure you ask for me," he tells her flirtingly.

"Oh I definitely will," she responds with just as much flirt as he did, and surprisingly, she actually meant it.

"I'm looking forward to it," he smiles. "Oh, and before I forget, this is what I'm known for, just so you're up to term with everyone else." Ben hands Erica the piece of paper and watches her read it.

"This has information about some murderer, I don't understand?"

"That's the guy that killed my sister. He snuck into her house and killed her and her boyfriend for no reason. I was 16 when it happened. It's why I became a cop," he tells her, putting his hands in his pockets and rocking back and forth on his feet.

"Oh my gosh, Ben, I'm so sorry," Erica tells him, her stomach dropping.

"It's okay. I just thought you could use the hope. It took them a while to catch him, but they did, and now he's on death row. I know they never caught the guy who took your parents away from you, but maybe someday they will. And with me on the force, I'll make sure they never give up."

Erica doesn't say anything, but she has to wipe a tear from her eye.

"Sorry, I know it brings up bad memories. I just thought it would make you feel a little better…"

"It did. It really did. I didn't know how much I needed that," Erica says with a laugh.

"Glad I could help. You take it easy, Erica, okay? And slow down a little, I don't want you getting into an accident, that would not be a fun report to write," Ben suggests, leaning against her car.

"I'll slow down, I promise," Erica tells him.

"Good. See you around," he responds giving her a wave and starting back to his car.

"See you at the station sometime," Erica calls after him after a moment on an impulse.

"I'll be waiting," Ben replies with a wink.

Erica smiles and leans back in her seat, watching as Ben drives away.

Suddenly, her phone rings, and she sees Derek's name on the screen.

"Oh right, my boyfriend," Erica says, instantly feeling guilty.

\-------

"You smell so good," Jackson moans as he kisses down the boy's neck.

Nolan runs his fingers through Jackson's hair and smiles to himself, "You always know just what to say to get me to take my pants off."

And with that comment, Nolan pushes Jackson down onto the bed, partly so the action can happen and partly so that he can remove his pants. When his pants are off, Nolan straddles Jackson and leans down to kiss him, gyrating his hips ever so teasingly.

Jackson growls.

"Don't do this, babe," the werewolf pleads.

"It's your punishment," Nolan smirks, "you've been a big bad wolf."

"Yeah, but I'm your big bad wolf."

Nolan nods and leans back down to kiss Jackson, biting his lip sensually in the process. Jackson bucks his hips forward, letting Nolan know that he's ready for the show to begin – hopefully sooner than later. With his hands on Nolan's hips, Jackson hooks his fingers in the boy's black underwear and begins to slide them down.

Then suddenly the door opens.

Jackson sits up in his bed and stares around him, he's sweating and breathing heavily and has to pull the covers into his lap to prevent Fitz from seeing his very evident morning problem.

Clad in a towel, the British boy says, "The shower is yours… why are you all sweaty?"

"Just, uh…" Jackson stutters, "I had a nightmare. A terrible, terrible nightmare… there was uh, blood and gore and I got stabbed in the face with a fork."

Fitz rolls his eyes, "It was just a dream, love. You shouldn't get so worked up about it."

"You're right… it was just a dream."

\-------

 _Just knock_ , Scott tells himself. His hand is in a fist and is just inches away from pounding on the door, but he can't bring himself to do it. He feels like he's betrayed his friends by moving and that him knocking on the door and walking into Derek's loft is just a can of disaster waiting to be opened.

That's when his hand hits the door.

In less than a second, the metal barrier is pulled open to show Isaac on the other side.

"You're definitely not the pizza boy," the other werewolf says slowly.

"Scott?" Lydia asks from the futon, flabbergasted.

"Holy shit," Camilla beams, getting up from beside the other girl to rush over to her once departed friend. "I didn't think I'd ever see that crooked jaw again!"

Scott nods his head and then pulls Camilla to him, "It's good to see you."

When the werewolf's arms close around her, Camilla winces, saying "Ow," as the hug initiates.

"Oh, crap, did I hurt you?" Scott worries as he lets her go.

Camilla shakes her head, "No… no… I just, uh, my dad opened up his bedroom door today and hit me with it by accident. I've personally never been more embarrassed about an injury…"

Isaac eyes his girlfriend, sensing that her story might be a lie.

Coming out of the bathroom, Stiles smiles and begins to speak, "Is that the pi – nope, it's a state jumping BFF… in the flesh."

"Stiles, look," Scott starts, but is cut off.

"Ninety three emails later and you decide to come crawling back. Ya know I have to say, skipping town during Thanksgiving break and not telling anyone was some top notch sneakary. If I hadn't been so devastated I probably would've been proud."

"Give it a rest," Lydia insists, "he's back now."

The red haired girl walks over and gives Scott a hug, the boy is quick to return it and says, "It's good to see you."

"Of course it is," Lydia replies.

When Scott and Lydia separate, Scott walks further into the loft to where Nolan sits in the armchair and pulls the boy up and into a hug. Scott can hear Nolan's heart speed up as he hugs him and says to him, "It's just a hug, you can relax."

Putting his arms around Scott, Nolan whispers back, "I didn't know we were on hugging level."

Scott lets him go and chuckles, "Well we are… now if one Mr. Stilinski would just stop being a butt face, this reunion would be a lot better."

Stiles crosses his arms, "I'm displeased. I am violently displeased."

Scott rolls his eyes and saunters over to his friend, putting his arms around the thinner boy and squeezing him tightly. Stiles tries his hardest not to let a smile come through and fails, laughing as Scott picks him up off his feet.

"Alright, alright," Stiles laughs, "you're a dickhat, but you're forgiven! Now put me down before I find some wolfsbane to shove up your ass!"

Scott puts his friend down and slaps the boy's butt before looking around again, noticing the severe changes in the loft since he'd last been there, "Derek's really changed this place. Is he around?" he asks.

Camilla answers, "Actually, Derek and Erica are both living in the Hale house… it's sort of been rebuilt and so this place is Isaac's now. Fun, right?"

"Yeah, the Camilla/Isaac love nest is just the biggest funfest in Beacon Hills," Lydia sighs, "ya know this place and the burn unit are pretty much the it-spots for fun in these parts."

"Shut it, Red," Camilla says with a smile.

"Derek's at the Hale house now probably. Do you need to talk to him about the Deucalion thing?" Isaac asks.

"You know about Deucalion… did he hurt one of us? Someone else?" Scott counters in a panic.

"No," Nolan answers, "he just sort of ordered a black coffee and a piece of lemon poppy bread, demolished it and left."

"So unless you count all those calories as an attack, he didn't do anything too evil," Lydia adds.

Scott shakes his head, "He threatened my mom… that's why I'm back. If he was willing to hurt her I'm more than sure he'd start picking you guys off. I can't have that. I'm not going to lose any more people that I care about."

Camilla and Scott lock eyes and share a nonverbal moment where they both agree that nothing like Malum Radix will ever happen again.

"So, what you're saying is that we need to go to Derek and figure out a way to get Deucalion and the rest of the Alphas off your back from now until time ends?" Isaac asks.

"That's the plan, I think a pack meeting is in order," Scott replies.

"I take it you're not coming to movie night then?" Camilla asks her boyfriend.

Isaac turns and looks at her, grabbing her small hands in his own massive appendages, "I'll try to swing by if I can. Tell Ron and Susan I'm sorry I couldn't make it."

Camilla nods and stands on her toes so that she's closer to Isaac's lips. The two kiss and then pull apart, evoking fake barfing sounds from Stiles.

"Oh shut it, Stilinski!" Camilla warns.

Stiles rolls his eyes, "Lydia, Nolan, it sorta looks like this party is over. Why don't we head out…? Scott, man, give me a call tomorrow. We've got some serious catching up to do and, uh," Stiles comes in close to Scott and says, "don't leave without saying goodbye this time, okay?"

Scott nods his head and watches as his four friends leave the loft, Camilla and Isaac sharing one more kiss before she left. When the room is clear Scott nods at Isaac and asks, "Are you taking care of her? Has she been doing okay?"

"She's been doing as well as any of us, Scott," Isaac answers. "We can talk Camilla later, right now though we should head to Derek's. The sooner we can get rid of the Alphas the better, I say."

\-------

Derek slams his door shut and spits his now-flavorless gum on the ground, "Let's get this over with."

"Agreed," Jackson adds. Derek glares at him, causing him to hold up his hands in defeat.

"Sorry, man, I just agreed with you," Jackson tells the man.

Derek rolls his eyes and walks into the bar with the rest of the pack on his heels.

Isaac and Scott walk side by side, not sure about how the night's events would go.

"I kinda wish Erica was here, she's just as much a part of the pack as you and me," Isaac reveals to Scott.

"Yeah, I wish she was here too, but you know it's probably not a good idea. Considering this is the pack that killed her, I don't think they'll have any trouble doing it again. Plus since she and Derek are together now, she's just leverage against him," Scott reminds him.

"I guess you're right. But I can only imagine how much shit Derek's going to get tonight for not letting her come," Isaac shakes his head, knowing very well the rage his friend held.

Scott laughs but it is instantly killed in his throat when he spots Deucalion at a pool table, holding a stick and watching him intently. Playing pool at one of the tables near him are the twins Aiden and Ethan.

Derek comes closer to Scott and says, "Are you ready for this?"

Scott nods and begins to walk up to Deucalion.

When the boy gets close enough, the man speaks, "Scott, so nice to see you."

"Yeah, the feeling's not mutual," he tells him. "What do you want?"

"Wow, straight down to business then," Deucalion remarks, adjusting his stance as well as the pool stick in his hands. "But before, I would just like to do some quick introductions."

"You know who we are, we know who you are, no introductions necessary," Derek states firmly.

"For the most part yes, but there have been some… additions to my pack," Deucalion informs the group. Almost instantly, a beautiful woman dressed in a tight, red cocktail dress walks up to the group and stands beside Deucalion. She instantly offers out her hand, the bangles on her wrists clanging against each other.

"I'm Jessica, and you must be Scott, Derek, Isaac, and I'm not quite sure who you are, sweetie," she says right off the bat, making direct eye contact with each respective werewolf.

"I'm, uh, Jackson," the boy tells her.

"I'm sure you are, honey," she says with a wink.

Her hand still extended she turns to Derek, "Now I know Scott's the Alpha here, but it seems to me that you're the real leader, am I right?"

"For the most part," Derek answers reluctantly, not bothering to shake her hand.

"Sexy," she speaks to him. "I like a man in charge."

"Now, now, Jessica. This meeting is all business, you can deal with the pleasure part later," Deucalion warns her.

"Oh, I intend to," she answers, putting her hand back at her side and gazing seductively at Derek.

Derek's jaw tightens and he focuses back on Deucalion, "Now that names are out of the way, let's talk. What the hell do you want?"

Deucalion sets his pool stick on a table and folds his hands together.

"I want Scott in my pack."

Derek laughs, "This, again? Really? He didn't want in your stupid pack before, he doesn't want in now."

"Let the boy speak for himself," Deucalion threatens, turning to Scott after casting a glare at Derek whose jaw tightens even more.

"Derek's right. I don't want to join you, Deucalion," Scott tells him truthfully.

"I assumed that was the case," Deucalion responds. "Well, it doesn't hurt to ask." Deucalion shrugs and picks up his pool stick again. "Would any of you lads be interested in a game of billiards?"

"That's it?" Scott asks with obvious shock. "No threatening of those I love, no calling the twins to fight me until I give in?"

Deucalion thinks for a moment, "Nope. At least not yet anyways."

"Well he'll never join you, so I suggest you leave town while you can still walk on two legs," Derek threatens.

"Oh, Derek, must you always be so violent? Anyways, I will stay in this town for as long as I desire," Deucalion tells him nonchalantly.

"So if you know your answer, what is it you want?" Scott asks, a frown crossing over his face.

Deucalion moves to an empty pool table already set up and lines up the cue ball and his stick. He looks right at Scott and smirks as he breaks almost perfectly without even watching the table.

"Oh I'm still coming after you. You have no idea what's coming."

\-------

"What time do you get off work tomorrow?" Stiles asks Nolan as they pull onto Clermont Street.

"What's tomorrow?" Lydia asks from the backseat.

"We were just gonna hang out and marathon  _Indiana Jones_ ," Nolan explains, "I get off at two."

"Radical," Stiles smiles as he stops the car in front of the big, yellow Hayes house, "I'll see you then."

Nolan gets out of Stiles' jeep and waves goodbye to Lydia and Stiles one last time before they drive down the road and he heads up to his front door. Suddenly, he's exhausted and there's nothing more he wants than to take a hot shower and climb into bed with his cat.

The boy's own ideas of a good night are sad to even him.

Nolan walks up the steps on the front porch and slips his key into the door, unlocking it. He steps inside and tosses his keys into the bowl by the front door and calls, "Dad, I'm home!" before he slides off his shoes and walks toward the kitchen.

Slowly but surely this house had begun to feel like home, and seeing his big golden retriever laying on the dining room floor fast asleep reminded him of how homey the place truly felt. He walks firmly though the dining room and then into the kitchen where he sees his father sitting with someone else.

"N-Nolan," his father stammers, "I didn't hear you come in."

"I screamed 'Dad, I'm home!' how did you miss that? Who's this…?"

Its then the woman turns around and smiles at him gently, "Hi honey."

For just a second, Nolan is certain that he's dreaming, that at any second he'll sit up in bed and be greeted by cat Charlton Heston purring noisily at the foot of his bed. This has to be a dream, he tells himself, because if it's not a dream then…

"Mom?" Nolan chokes out.

The blonde woman stands up, rushes over to her son, and pulls him into a hug, "I'm back, darling… I'm back."

\-------

Isaac shrugs out of his jacket, realizing he doesn't need one on this hot night.

He leaves his jacket in his car and gets out. He takes the familiar path to Camilla's front door and knocks, waiting for someone to let him in. After the talk with the Alpha pack, Isaac told Camilla he would come over and join her and her family.

Rather than anyone answering the door, Isaac hears Ron yell loudly from inside the house.

"Come in, Isaac! It's open!"

Doing what Ron says, Isaac's turns the gold handle of the door and steps into the house. He makes his way to the living room, where he assumes the family was waiting for him.

When he walks in, he instantly realized something big happened.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Isaac asks, an amused look on his face as he moves over to sit next to Camilla on the couch.

"Susan, tell him!" Ron urges.

Thrusting out her left hand to show off a big, shiny ring, Susan yells, "We're getting married!"

"Wow!" Isaac beams. "Congratulations! I'm assuming that's what the champagne is for?"

"Yes sir. Here, have a glass!" Ron suggests, pouring the liquid into a flute and handing it to Isaac.

"Cheers to the couple!" Camilla says loudly, raising her champagne in the air.

"Cheers!" they all echo, taking a long sip.

"I'm going to go grab some cookies!" Susan says excitedly.

"And I'm going to help her!" Ron says just as happily.

Isaac and Camilla laugh at their cuteness and snuggle into each other.

"How'd the pack stuff go?" she asks him, looking right into his eyes.

"We can talk about that later, nothing major. This is much more a big deal. How do you feel about it?" he asks.

"I love it! It's awesome!" she says loudly.

Isaac laughs and watches her finish her glass of champagne.

"How much of that have you guys had?" he asks.

"Oh, a lot! But we're celebrating! Celebrate!" she tells him, pouring more champagne into her glass and then his.

"I don't want to get too crazy, babe," he reminds her, taking a small sip.

Camilla leans over seductively and whispers into his ear, "Yeah, well, if we get them drunk enough I bet they'll let you stay the night."

Isaac eyes widen and light up and he lifts his glass to hers.

"Cheers to that."

\-------


	15. The Great Pretender (4x03)

Hurrying down the stairs, the third step squeaking as it always does, Nolan lands on the wood floors of the foyer. He slides on his black slip-on Converse, grabs his house key from the key bowl that sits on a table beside the front door, examines himself in the mirror above said table once and is just about ready to exit his house when his dad appears beside him.

"Plan on speaking to us anytime soon?" Marcel asks his son cautiously. The tension throughout the Hayes house for the last week had been enough to cause severe stress for the man. His wife was home, after ten years of her being in a mental institution she was home – yet with his son's apparent upset about his mother's return things weren't as happy as he'd hoped.

Nolan shakes his head, "There's nothing to say, dad. I mean mom just turns up all of a sudden… I don't get it. I had just gone to see her the day before and Dr. Webber said she was the same as she always had been, yet somehow she's back home and perfectly fine?"

"I know you've got a lot of questions…"

Nolan puts a hand up, stopping his father's thought, "You don't know the half of it. When I would go to visit mom she would always say bizarre things and I sorta thought she'd start explaining about them the more I visited, but now she's here and she says she doesn't remember anything she said."

Before either man can register her presence, Kelly is in the doorway of the dining room, "Nolan, honey, don't you at least want some breakfast before you go to work?"

"I'm pretty full on bullshit, thanks though," Nolan quips before exiting the house.

Marcel and Kelly stand in the foyer now, a bit shell-shocked from their son's words. Marcel puts an arm around his wife and squeezes her reassuringly, "He'll come around. It'll take some time, but he'll come around."

Kelly runs a hand through her wispy blonde hair and nods, "I hope you're right."

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Camilla runs her hands over the plush sofa she had been sat on. Next to her, two of Susan's friends sit, poised and ready for the day's events.

"Right this way, Susan," the saleswoman coos, gesturing with a manicured hand toward a rack of dresses.

"Eeee! I can't believe I'm picking out a wedding dress!" Susan cheers excitedly, earning squeals from her two friends.

Camilla smiles and their excitement and watches as Susan comes up to the rack and stares at the many white dresses hanging on it.

Minutes later, Susan had picked out a few dresses and was in the dressing room trying the first one on.

A different saleswoman makes her way up the couch where Camilla and the others are sitting, her heels clacking on the polished floor.

"Can I interest you ladies in a mimosa?" the woman asks politely, offering up a tray of drinks. Under the bright lights, Camilla can see every one of the woman's wrinkles beneath thick layers of makeup and spray tan.

"I would love one," Georgie, Susan's friend since high school, answers with a purr. She daintily grabs a glass, her acrylic nails clinking ever so lightly.

The woman wordlessly offers the tray to Piper, who accepts a drink and murmurs a soft thank-you.

"And you, miss?" the woman finally asks Camilla, her blue eyes twinkling underneath her purple-rimmed glasses.

Camilla nods and grabs a drink, smiling at the woman lightly.

"Thanks, um…?"

"Allison," the woman answers with a little smile.

Right when Camilla hears the name, her stomach drops and her heart stops. The color drains from her face, but she manages to choke out, "Thanks, Allison…"

The woman hardly notices Camilla's reaction and is on her way back to wherever she came from with the drinks.

Camilla doesn't take a sip, her mind too occupied with thoughts of her late cousin. Some days were good, but little things brought the pain to the surface.

Soon enough, Susan makes her way out of the dressing room with a dress on as the first saleswoman trails behind her, holding her train.

"What do you think?" Susan inquires her company after she places herself on a small stage in front of the couch.

"It's cute, but not really you…" Piper says softly, taking a sip from her drink.

"I agree. I like the shape, but it's just not the one," Georgie tells her, sitting up straight and eyeing the gown carefully.

"Camilla?" Susan turns to the brunette and looks at her expectantly.

"I think you could definitely do better."

Susan nods, taking her advice in, and turns to look at herself in a mirror.

"You guys are right… Back to the fitting room!" Susan says excitedly, pulling up the long dress so she could carefully step down from the stage.

Many dresses and a few drinks later, Camilla hears Susan squeal from the dressing room.

"I love it!" she hears next.

Georgie places her hand on Camilla's knee and squeezes, "Sounds like she found a keeper!"

Camilla shakes her head and smiles, agreeing.

The dressing room opens and out steps Susan in an incredible dress.

The dress is a cream color, complimenting Susan's skin tone perfectly. Strapless and long, the dress fits Susan's curves. The dress was all lace with a long train, currently being carried by the smiling saleswoman.

Susan models for them once again, and the decision is unanimous. The dress is the one.

"Thank goodness I found it so quickly, since the wedding is going to be a quick process!" Susan shares, still observing herself in the mirror.

"This is SO exciting!" Georgie exclaims, slapping her palms down on the couch.

Susan turns to the saleswoman and asks, "Do we have time to try on a couple bridesmaid dresses? Since we found this one so quickly…"

"That shouldn't be a problem, I'll show you ladies the way."

"Wait," Susan stops her. "Camilla, what time do you need to be done so you can go to Isaac's baseball game?"

"Oh, I've got a while, it's still pretty early and his game is at 7:30," she responds, shrugging off Susan's worries.

Susan's face brightens up and she clasps her hands together, "Perfect! Let's start looking!"

\-------

Scott comes downstairs and strides into the kitchen, spotting bananas on the kitchen island. He hurries over and grabs one, peeling it causally as his mom comes into the room – a smile on her face as she locks eyes with her son.

"I've gotta say," Melissa begins, "seeing you in the morning again is something I could get used to."

Scott smiles and watches as his mother lets the dog out through the kitchen door. However, before Maximus exits, he growls at Scott. The werewolf rolls his eyes and then flashes them red at the dog, who then continues out of the house with his tail between his legs.

"You think Maximus is ever gonna like me?" Scott asks his mom as she goes to get herself a cup of coffee.

"To be honest, I doubt it. I mean, he can sense your whole Alpha thing and probably will always feel the need to challenge it. He's like a teenage boy in that sense… so, I think we need to talk."

"Talk about what?" Scott retorts quickly, taking a seat at the kitchen table.

"Well, how long do you plan to stay? Is this an indefinite thing or just until you can get Deucalion out of Beacon Hills?"

"I'm really not sure… I've missed it here, but I don't know if I'm ready to be back and stay back."

"Sweetie, if you need to talk about Allison…"

"Don't," is all the boy can manage.

Melissa stares at the swirling steam coming from her mug, "All I'm saying is that if you need someone to talk to about her, I'm here. Or Stiles – I'm sure he'd listen to you. Or maybe her cousin, Camilla… or Lydia even. You've got a truck load of people in this town who are here for you, Scott."

"I don't need to talk about Al…" Scott trails off and swallows hard, fighting back the sting of tears, "I don't need to talk about  _her_. Okay? I just need to make sure that no one else I care about dies. I need to make sure that Deucalion doesn't go out and make Beacon Hills rain blood."

"You always were a very descriptive storyteller," Melissa jokes, hoping to lighten the mood.

Scott shakes his head and takes a bite of banana, "I should probably head out, Stiles wanted to hang out for a while before the baseball game. I'll see you tonight, alright?"

"Okay," the woman says as she watches her son get up from the table and head for the door, "I love you, Scott."

The boy turns around and smiles, "I love you too, mom."

\-------

Stiles walks down the stairs sleepily, stepping on the cold hardwood floor with his bare feet.

He walks into the kitchen and grabs some bread from the counter to make toast. He pops it into the toaster and leans against the counter, drumming his fingers on the surface.

After a minute, he realizes he hears a weird bubbling sound coming from the living room.

His brow furrowed, he leaves the kitchen and walks into the living room, ready to run. Or attack. Whatever was necessary. He even brought a butter knife.

When he turns the corner, it's not a witch brewing a potion like he had suspected, but instead, it's his father with his feet in a footbath.

"Why?" he asks suddenly, making his father jump.

"Oh, uh, Stiles. I'm uh.. just…"

"You know, I really don't want to know," Stiles tells him, putting his hands in the air.

"It's not.. It's just… Why do you have a butter knife?"

"I thought you were a monster," Stiles answers quietly, putting the knife behind his back, embarrassed. "But this is by far stranger."

"If you must know, it's for the police ball tonight," his father reveals, taking his feet from the hot, soapy water.

"So why didn't you get a haircut or a shave rather than stooping to womanly levels of getting ready?" Stiles asks curiously.

"Well I have a haircut appointment later…" the sheriff responds with a soft mutter.

"Of course you do," Stiles shakes his head, turning back to retrieve his toast from the kitchen.

"Stiles, wait. It's just—"

"I don't care, Dad! Just keep boiling your feet and let me eat in peace!" he hollers back whilst spreading butter on his warm, toasted bread.

He is putting on cinnamon and sugar when his father calls out to him again.

"You know, you should really try this sometime, it's actually enjoyable."

"You know, Dad, I think I'm good," Stiles says, his mouth full of toast.

He grabs his plate and walks back into the living room, stopping to lean against one of the walls.

"You got a hot date for this ball?" Stiles asks, chewing his food.

"Well, I asked Melissa to go with me a while ago. I already bought our tickets and she took the night off, so I'm assuming she's still going. But I wouldn't call it a date…"

"You and my best friend's mom?" Stiles asks. "Weird."

"Stiles, it's not like that," his father responds while adding more soap to the water.

"Sure, and I'm not eating toast right now," the boy tells him, taking a bite to prove his point.

The sheriff shakes his head and leans back on the couch, reaching over to grab the newspaper that was sitting next to him.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Stiles warns him as he makes his way back up to his room.

\-------

Camilla's body slams against the padded wall and she collapses to the floor. In an instant, she gets back on her feet, though her vision wavers and she can't see straight.

She glues her eyes on Graham, who had his eyes glued on her as well.

Though she watches him, she still doesn't manage to defend herself, and when Graham strikes, he hits her hard and she goes down again.

She gets right back up again and prepares to lunge at Graham, but he stops her and slams her to the floor, knocking the wind out of her and making her head and vision worse.

She tries to fight back, but he holds her down.

"Stop fighting, Camilla, we're done for the day. You've had enough," he commands her.

"No, I'm fine. Obviously I can keep going."

"I know you think you can, but your body has had enough. And I'm pretty sure your concussion isn't getting any better. Did you even get it checked out?" Graham asks, eyeing her curiously and extending his hand out to help her up.

"No, and I don't need to. It's fine," she tells him, sitting up dizzily and not believing her own words.

"It's really not. And after today's session I think you ought to go to the hospital. And we should probably take a break from training for a while," Graham reveals to her.

The words are barely out of his mouth when Camilla strikes, knocking him down on his back. She quickly climbs on top of him and pins him down forcefully, not letting him escape.

Sweat runs down her forehead as she speaks, "I'm fine. We're going to keep training. I'm not going to the hospital." As she speaks, her head pounds and her vision blackens, but she ignores it.

"Camilla, I know you really want to train and get better, but your head is not fine and I don't want to risk anything. Plus, you need to stay healthy for your dad's wedding. I'm sure you look sexy in your bridesmaid dress," Graham smiles from beneath her.

Camilla scoffs and gets off of Graham, shakily, due to her head.

"Will you stop with the shit like that Graham? You know that everything between us is in the past."

"We'll see," he winks at her, standing up and moving across the room to grab his bag and place the strap over his shoulder. "Get your head checked out, babe. I'll call you."

With that, he leaves the room and Camilla yells behind him, "Stop calling me that!"

The yelling makes her head feel worse and she closes her eyes to try and relax herself.

She checks her watch after a minute to make sure she still had time to clean up before Isaac's game, figuring out she has a little less than two hours.

She shrugs her bag onto her shoulder and exits the room, trying to walk straight even though her head was spinning.

\-------

Customers had slowly begun to file out of JavaPit, no doubt heading to the baseball game between Beacon Hills and Neptune, as Nolan carefully watches a group of girls get up from their table and leave, one of them shouting, "Goodbye cutie!" at him before she leaves. For some reason, being gawked at like that was a comfort to the auburn haired boy.

Over the speakers  _Blister in the Sun_  by the Violent Femmes begins to play throughout the coffee house as the jingle of the bell over the door rings. Nolan looks up and instantly looks back down upon seeing the boy who had just entered the shop.  _This is just the icing on my crap cupcake_ , Nolan thinks to himself as the patron comes to him at the counter.

"Good afternoon," Fitz says with his chipper, British accent.

"Hey there, Fitz. How's it hanging?" Nolan asks casually, hoping his tone comes off sweet and not sarcastic.

Fitz beams at him, "Oh you know, just wanted to come inside and get two vanilla white mocha coolers for me and my boyfriend. He loves a good coffee treat, as do I."

Nolan nods, "That's swell."

"You know what I don't like though? You making eyes at him."

"W-what?"

Fitz crosses his arms over his chest, "Don't play dumb with me, Nolan. I'm not blind. I see the way you look at Jackson… it's just like that! You need to stop."

"What?" Nolan asks, pointing to his face, "this look of disdain? This is just my face… unless you prefer me to try looking like I think you're an asshole."

Fitz scoffs, "Oh that's funny. You're a funny little coffee boy… but guess what? You're a loser, Nolan. Jackson is  _mine_. And you need to stay away from him; lest I have to take matters into my own hands and make sure you won't be causing problems in my, or any other, relationship. I'll take those drinks any time now."

"Okay, I'll get those for you. Do you want whipped cream or spit on yours?"

"That depends, do you want my foot up your ass?"

"I hate to break it to you, Harry Potter, but you don't scare me."

Fitz nods and chuckles, "That's fine, Captain Homo-America. I'm warning you, though. Stay away from Jackson."

Rolling his eyes, Nolan turns on his heel and gives Richie the coffee order. The barista quickly makes them and passes them back to the boy who then hands them over to Fitz, who impatiently had begun to tap his foot on the tiled floor.

"That'll be ten forty-two, your majesty the Queen."

Fitz slams down a twenty and slides it across the counter to Nolan, "Keep the change; I'm sure you need it more than I do."

Nolan watches as the British boy strolls out of JavaPit with the drinks in his hand. His heart is in his throat at he thinks of the nerve Fitz must have to be so rude. Opening the cash register, Nolan slams the twenty into the drawer and then slams it shut biting his lip to keep from screaming out.

\-------

Erica grasps the hot metal handle of the door to the police station and feels a gush of air-conditioned air blast her as she pulls open the door.

All around her officers and other workers rush about. Phones ring, keyboards click, and copy machines whir. Erica eyes the front desk and walks right up to it.

A pretty woman greets her with a nice smile, "Hello, miss, how can I help you?"

"I'm here to pay some outstanding tickets, my name is Erica Reyes," the blonde informs the woman who immediately gets right to work by typing into her computer.

Erica is admiring the woman's cute top when she hears a familiar voice behind her.

"Well, if it isn't Miss Bank Robber. Here to turn yourself in?"

Erica smiles and turns around, meeting the eyes of Ben.

"Well, not exactly. Let's keep that our little secret," she flirts, smiling brightly.

Ben walks toward her and glances over at the woman behind the desk, "I'll finish up with this, Connie."

Connie looks up and Erica can instantly tell that she wasn't too fond of the idea.

"Are you sure, I'm sure you're very busy and—"

"I think I can squeeze it in, thanks, Connie," he interrupts. Turning back to Erica, he says, "We can take care of this at my desk."

Erica follows him and eyes his butt the whole way. Man did she have a thing for butts.

All around her, the hectic craze doesn't stop, but Ben doesn't seem to notice as he arrives at his desk.

"Have a seat, Erica," he gestures to an uncomfortable-looking chair.

"I think I'll stand, thanks," she replies.

"Suit yourself," he tells her, looking at her for a moment before smiling and turning to his computer.

Neither one says a word as he types into his keyboard and pulls something up on his screen.

Erica can't stand the silence so she speaks up.

"I think Connie was a little jealous back there."

Ben looks up, humor in his eyes and the hint of a laugh on his lips.

"Yeah, she kind of has a thing for me. But as I told you before, she's one of those girls who likes Justin Bieber, so I'm not really digging it."

"Well then what kind of girls do you dig?" Erica blurts out, regretting her question the minute it leaves her red lips.

Ben's eyes meet Erica's and he smirks, then he moves his eyes up and down her body, as if answering her question that way.

After a moment he turns back to the computer screen, hits a few more keys, and then looks back at Erica.

"So, Ms. Reyes, you owe a total of $536. And that's less than you were supposed to pay originally, but I pulled a few strings. You can thank me later," Ben tells her, reaching his arms behind his neck and leaning back in his chair.

Erica reaches into her purse and pulls out a few bills and tosses them on his desk.

"This should be enough," she states, putting her hands on her hips.

Ben grabs the money and counts it out.

"Where does a girl get money like this?" he asks, bewildered. "Wait, don't answer that. As a cop, I don't want to know."

Erica smiles and shrugs, not wanting to tell Ben she got the money from her boyfriend.

Oh right, her boyfriend. Crap.

"Well, I'd better get going, thanks for helping me out," Erica says to Ben, when she turns, she nearly runs into another cop, a blonde, fierce-looking woman.

"Excuse me," the cop says, not really seeming to mean her words. "Ben, you got a sec? It's about the ball tonight."

"Yeah, just a sec Donna, I'll come to you. Erica, hold up," he says, talking to the both of them. He waits for the other officer to leave.

"The ball tonight? What is this, Cinderella?" Erica laughs, fingering a Troy Polamalu bobble head on Ben's desk.

Ben laughs and shakes his head, "No, it's the annual police ball. Officers come and get all dressed up for awards and recognition and blah blah blah. I only go for the food. And because I have to."

Erica raises her eyebrows and imagines a bunch of cops doing the Waltz.

"You should take Connie, I'm sure she'd love it," Erica tells him, looking over at the woman and realizing she had been watching her and Ben talking. Erica shakes her head at Connie's attempt to make herself look busy after being caught staring.

Ben stands up from his chair and says, "Nah. I've got my eye on someone else. But I think I'll be fine going solo. Maybe after we could meet up and get a drink? I don't think they're serving anything but wine and I know I'll be needing a nice beer at the end of the night. You're 21, right?"

"Umm, I'm somewhere around there… but maybe getting a drink isn't the best idea. I have a boyfriend…"

Ben licks his lips and nods his head, "Ah, the ever-intruding boyfriend. Well, Erica, if you ever find yourself without said boyfriend, I'd be glad to take you out sometime."

Ben's smile didn't falter and Erica admires his courage.

"I'll let you know," she responds, making her way towards the front doors.

"You better. I'll hold you to it, Ms. Reyes," Ben says smoothly, watching her walk away.

Erica smiles at the cop and turns to leave. She glances at Connie one last time, noticing an angry/sad expression on her face as she staples a few papers together.

"Oh, Erica," she says to herself once she steps outside, "what have you gotten yourself into?"

\-------

Derek paces the room as Scott watches him from where he sits on Derek's new gray couch.

"He's here for you, Scott," Derek finally says, "I mean, aside from you just going with him I don't know how we're supposed to get rid of Deucalion this time."

"I'm not joining his pack," Scott insists, "I'm not a killer and I'm not going to be a part of a pack that's full of killers."

"Hey, you want to keep your mother safe. What other option is there?"

Scott shoots up from his seat, "I don't know Derek! But I'm not going to join the Alphas!"

Derek rolls his eyes, "You may not have a choice, Scott!"

In the blink of an eye, the small coffee table that had been sitting in front of the couch slams against the wall and shatters. Splintered wood flies about the room.

"You kicked the coffee table, Scott," Derek says as coolly as he can, "that's new."

"I… I'm sorry."

Derek runs a hand through his hair and then sinks down into the matching gray arm chair and sighs. His head hurts. Truthfully, the Alpha pack wasn't his problem… it was Scott's. But how in good conscience could Derek let Scott head into that Lion's Den alone? Two years ago it would've been no problem… but now? Scott was like Derek's prodigy, he couldn't let him tackle this alone… he just couldn't.

"Scott, look…" the older werewolf begins to say.

"No!" Scott shouts, "No! I'm not going to let you bark orders at me. I'm not in your pack anymore, Derek! I'm not your beta! I'm an omega alpha if I'm anything, alright? I refuse to act like you have power over me anymore – that ended the day Allison died!"

Derek looks up into Scott's eyes and very calmly says, "I think it would be best if you left, McCall."

"Yeah, I think it would be too," Scott agrees hatefully, storming out of the living room and into the foyer of the giant Hale house.

"Oh, and Scott," Derek calls, not getting up from his seat, but knowing that Scott can hear him, "don't be coming around me and  _my_  pack for help again unless you're prepared to be a part of it."

Scott's anger level rises to a new high and he can feel himself begin to change. He hurriedly gets out of the house, slamming the door behind him, just as he shifts into full Alpha form. Not wasting any time, the werewolf runs down the steps and into the woods, hoping he'll find some much needed peace in nature.

\-------

Lydia spreads her legs out along the bleachers, trying to soak up as much sun as she could. Next to her is Camilla and Erica who do the same.

The strawberry blonde adjusts the bottom of her dress, making sure it covers enough of her skin, but shows enough that she'll get some color to her legs.

"So he seriously asked you out? Or he just hinted at it?" Camilla asks Erica, getting all the details from her and Ben's conversation earlier that day.

"He said if Derek and I ever broke up he would love to take me out or something like that. Plus before that he asked me out to drinks after that police ball thing tonight," Erica informs her while watching the game being played on the field in front of them. "But enough about my guy drama, how's it going with Graham being Isaac's baseball coach? That's gotta be awkward."

Camilla looks over at her boyfriend in the dugout, waiting for his turn to bat.

"Well, Graham's only the assistant coach, so they don't have much contact… But, I don't know. Isaac hasn't really said anything. I think they're just trying to get along by not talking," Camilla shares, taking sip from her water bottle.

"Have you talked to Graham at all?" Lydia asks turning to look at Camilla, her eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses.

"Not since the whole Root thing…" Camilla trails off, not wanting to say anything more because not only did it bring up bad memories, but it was also a bold faced lie.

Lydia takes her answer and asks no more. Soon enough, the conversation is forgotten, and the girls are enthralled in the baseball game.

When Isaac steps up to the plate, Camilla cheers loudly for her man.

Unsurprisingly, he gets a good hit, but not a good enough one to raise any eyebrows, and makes it to second base.

"Yeah, baby! That's my man!" Camilla cheers, earning her a quick smile from Isaac, whose face was streaked with dirt and sweat. "God, he's so sexy."

Erica laughs and uses her program to fan the brunette, "Calm down, horn dog. You have all night to whisper dirty nothings in his ear, so save it for him and spare us the details."

Camilla smiles and obliges, keeping her urges to a minimum.

Out of the blue, Lydia scoffs and looks as though she smelled dog shit.

"Why is he here with her?" she asks her two friends, not giving away any other details.

"Who?" Erica asks, looking around.

"Stiles and that hipster girl," she answers, gesturing angrily towards the two sitting on a different set of bleachers.

"You mean Roxy?" Camilla asks. "You were just at her party like a week ago, don't tell me you "forgot" her name!"

Lydia frowns, "I just didn't feel like soiling my mouth."

Erica laughs out loud, "Why don't you like her? She didn't do anything to you! And I clearly recall you hooking up with Aiden rather than Stiles last week, so that's your own fault."

Erica gets a look of anger from Lydia, but the blonde just shrugs and pops a piece of popcorn into her mouth.

Lydia turns back to Stiles and Roxy and immediately throws her hands up into the air.

"Really? She's doing the hotdog trick! That dirty girl!" Lydia exclaims, crossing her arms across her chest and pouting.

"What hotdog trick?" Camilla asks with humor in her voice.

"Oh you know. Girl orders a hotdog at a sporting event and it's it all sexily, turning the guy's attention away from the game and onto her. I mean, their testosterone is already flowing from the enthrallment of watching sports and then a girl has wiener-shaped food in her mouth… it's a guaranteed way to get his motor running for you," Lydia reveals, glaring at the girl in a tie-dye shirt from behind her sunglasses.

"Or maybe she's just hungry and wanted to eat a hotdog…" Erica suggests.

"I doubt it. That girl has an agenda. She's not fooling anyone," Lydia responds.

"OH HELL YEAH BABY! TAKE THAT, YOU COCKY PIECE OF TRASH! THAT'S MY MAN AND HE JUST GOT YOU OUT! BYE BYE!" Camilla suddenly yells at a player.

The umpire turns around and points at her.

"This is your second warning, young lady! I don't want to hear anymore or you're outta here!"

Camilla rolls her eyes and sits back in her seat.

"That old man needs to relax. That guy has been showing off and thinking he's some hot shit all night, he deserved everything I said," she justifies herself.

Erica watches as Camilla blinks slowly and she frowns a bit.

"Are you okay, Camilla? You seem kind of… out of it, I guess," the blonde asks her friend.

"Yeah, I'm just a little lightheaded I guess. I'll be fine, I won't be yelling anymore because apparently some people can't handle it," Camilla lies, trying to brush it off.

"It's probably for the best, I think their coach keeps looking over here," Lydia mentions.

"Eh, we're hot, we can get out of it if it's really that big of a deal," Camilla replies.

The minutes tick by and eventually the game ends with a victory for Beacon Hills High School.

The players have a quick talk in the dugout and Erica and Camilla wait by the bleachers for Isaac.

Before the boys finish, the other team walks by with looks of defeat on their faces. They drag their bags behind them as they take swigs of Gatorade and wipe the eye black from their sweaty faces.

Before she even realizes what is happening, the player who had been getting on Camilla's nerves all night runs into her with a lot of force, knocking her against the bleachers and making her hit her head.

"Dude, what the hell?" Erica yells with a lot of anger.

"It was an accident," he shrugs, walking away.

Erica notices right away that Camilla wasn't okay, and she swoops over to hold her up just in time.

"Camilla, are you okay? Did you hit you head hard?" Erica asks, worried.

Camilla's vision dances, and she can't stand straight. Her eyes and head throb and she puts all of her weight onto Erica.

"Babe, what happened?" comes Isaac's voice, rushing up to help hold her up.

"That asshole from the other team ran into her and she hit her head against the bleachers," Erica responds with hate, trying to control her anger. "She told me she was lightheaded earlier, and this definitely isn't helping."

"I could kill that guy," Isaac growls. Together the two move Camilla to sit down on the first row of bleachers. "Camilla, are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I should just go home," she says slowly, her vision not any better.

"No, she should go to the hospital," says Graham, coming out of nowhere. "I saw him run into her. She hit her head pretty badly."

"No, really. I'm fine. I should just lie down."

"Not if you have a concussion!" Isaac interjects. "You're going. C'mon, I'll drive your car."

Camilla puts up a little more fight but soon realizes she won't get her way. Before she gets into the car she does her best to glare at Graham, blaming him for her trip to the hospital.

Isaac shuts her door for her, and the sound stabs her head. She closes her eyes and leans back in the seat, trying to make the world stop spinning.

\-------

The radio plays louder than usual as Nolan sweeps the floors of the coffee shop. He sings along to  _Snap Out of It_  by the Arctic Monkeys as he places another chair on top of another table and sweeps under that. Even with the music playing though, Nolan hears the familiar jingle of the front door opening and stops sweeping so he can say, "We're closed!"

"You can't make an exception?" Jackson asks, coming around the corner to see Nolan, mid-sweep.

Nolan sighs and drops the broom to the floor and heads over to table two to grab the remote to the radio. He reluctantly turns down the music and then looks at Jackson with as much malice as he can muster. His jaw is locked when he speaks.

"What do you want, Jackson?"

"This place is a ghost town," the werewolf observes.

Nolan nods slowly, "Yeah, we closed early for the baseball game. High school sports in this town are a big deal. It's like football in Dylan."

Jackson looks down and examines his Nike sneakers, "I.. can't we just talk?"

"There's nothing to say." Nolan insists, "We are over, Jackson. You've got a boyfriend, a perfect, imported boyfriend… who's sort of crazy possessive. But he's still the one you picked; you chose to be with your beloved Fitzgerald Daldry. He showed up in town and you just dropped me like a goddamn hot potato."

"How is he crazy possessive?" Jackson asks, ignoring the rest of Nolan's statement.

Nolan rolls his eyes, "He came by the coffee shop today, and told me that I needed to stop 'making eyes at you.' Like whatever, I didn't realize I had been, but the point is that you've got a boyfriend. So you need to stop acting like you're trying to court me."

"So basically Fitz threatened you?"

"He did mention something about putting his foot up my ass, but I kind of deserved that."

Jackson shakes his head and walks down to the rust colored couch that sits in one corner of JavaPit. He slumps down in it and puts his face in his hands. Reluctantly, Nolan walks over to the couch and sits down beside Jackson, patting him on the knee.

"Look, I'm sorry your boyfriend isn't so much English as he is a German… and by German I mean a Nazi."

Chuckling, Jackson looks to Nolan and says, "I miss you."

"Why? Why would you miss me when you've got James Bond all to yourself?" Nolan counters.

"I miss you because, well when we started things, I always had a good time with you. That night at Jungle was one of the best nights of my life… and not just because you and I almost banged, but because it was fun, we had fun that night, Nolan."

"Okay, well we only almost banged because the tequila made everything seem kinda porn-y. Which was kinda nifty, and you were hot before but… look, I can't. We can't be talking about this, because all this reminiscent, walk down memory lane shit is just going to be a bummer when you leave to go be with Fitz."

"Maybe I don't want to be with Fitz."

Nolan feels his heart jump to his throat at those words, "Y-you don't mean that."

"What if I did?"

"If you did then you wouldn't be with him anymore and instead of talking about him we would be... well we would be halfway to sexy-time probably."

Jackson smirks, "That would be pretty cool."

"The pretty coolest," Nolan agrees.

"Do you ever miss me?" Jackson asks, unconsciously moving closer to Nolan.

"Honestly? With everything that's been going on lately - alpha invasions and motherly returns - yeah. Yeah I do miss you. You were the happiest of all happy distractions."

Jackson wets his lips, "I want to kiss you."

"You want to kiss me."

"I want to kiss you, yes. I want to kiss you badly."

Nolan wets his lips too, "Yeah?"

"Yeah. Can I?"

"Yeah."

Jackson's hand comes up and rests on Nolan's cheek, drawing him forward so the kiss can commence.

They boys' lips touch in a moment of unexpected heat and in a second they're laying down on the couch and Jackson is working to get Nolan's shirt off. Under Jackson, Nolan's hands grab onto either side of Jackson's lacrosse t-shirt and yanks it off, revealing the well muscled, tanned skin beneath it.

"Christ…" Nolan drawls as Jackson kisses down his neck.

Jackson's kisses suddenly become more urgent and they quickly make their way back up to Nolan's lips. And as Jackson continues the assault on the boy beneath him, it dawns on Nolan how truly wrong this all is… and the pushes Jackson off of him just as he had at Roxy's party.

"What? Was I hurting you?" the werewolf asks, breathing heavy.

Nolan shakes his head and grabs his black button down from where it lay discarded on the floor. The boy tugs it back on and sighs, "We can't do this, Jackson. You've got a boyfriend. Fitz. Fitz is your boyfriend and because Fitz is in the picture we can't be doing… this."

"I'll break up with Fitz," Jackson insists.

"Why? Because you're having lusty thoughts about me? Why would you give him up for me? I'm probably the last person you'd want to be with. I'm basically damaged goods."

"But…"

Nolan places a finger over Jackson's swollen lips, "But nothing. I think you should go, Jackson."

In a huff, Jackson reaches down and grabs his shirt, heading for the door of JavaPit, but not before he says what's been on his mind since his and Nolan's first kiss, "Before I left Beacon Hills, I'd killed people. I'd been the cause of pain and death for months… not to mention I was an asshole to the people around me… people who cared about me, all because I thought I had the right to act that way…"

"Jackson, please," Nolan begins but is cut off.

"No, let me finish. When I came back I was worried that everything would be the same, until I sat down next to you in Chemistry. You were new, we didn't have a history and you got to see me be the person I always wished I was. I knew you were different. And kissing you was… inevitable for me. It was like after the Kanima mess I was sleeping and when I met you I was finally woken up."

Nolan looks down and stares holes into the tiled floor, too scared to make eye contact with Jackson because he isn't sure what will happen if he sees the boy's green-blue eyes.

"I'm sorry I hurt you," Jackson admits with a huff, turning on his heel and leaving the coffee shop. The bell above the door jingling loudly before JavaPit was met with silence and Nolan was left with a coffee shop of half staked chairs and endless thoughts.

\-------


	16. I See Dead People (4x04)

Camilla's vision dances as the doctor pushes her wheelchair into a room in the hospital. The automatic lights flicker on, and Camilla sees unfamiliar machines looming before her.

"Okay, Camilla, we're just going to get a scan of your head with this machine," her doctor tells her, gesturing to one of the ominous white machines. "Then we'll see what exactly is going on and how we can help you get better."

Camilla does her best to nod, still noting in her head how stupid these tests were. She was fine, just a little shaken up is all. Nothing a few days of not hitting her head couldn't fix.

Camilla allows the doctor to help her up from the wheelchair and guide her over to the machine, though she knew how idiotic it was that she needed to do it.

Once she is strapped in and as still as possible, the doctor hits a button and into the machine she goes.

"Okay, Camilla. Now I'm going into the control room okay? Just try and stay still. You'll be able to hear me through a speaker in the machine. This shouldn't take too long," the doctor informs her loudly, making sure she could hear him from inside the machine.

Camilla doesn't know how to respond, so she just lies there. Eventually she hears a door shut faintly, and within seconds the doctor's voice is right in her ear from the speaker.

"Okay Camilla, I'm going to start your tests soon, but I have to wait a while until your dad arrives since he's your emergency contact. I know you're not a minor, but we just want to play it safe. Just sit still and relax. If you think you need to get out, that button I gave you will take you out, but it will also alert a nurse. It shouldn't be too long, so just hold tight."

Camilla does her best to roll her eyes and tries to get a little comfortable, but to no avail. After a few minutes of lying in the machine, she starts to feel uncomfortable. The machine was not only tight and small, but there was nothing to look at. It was all white and plain.

Suddenly, she hears the door open and shut. Camilla waits for the doctor to tell her that her father had arrived and they were going to begin.

"Get out of there. It's pathetic you even came to the hospital," she hears a familiar raspy voice command.

"Gerard?" she asks, her voice shaking.

"Why don't you press that button of yours and find out."

Camilla's eyes dart back and forth, trying to figure out her next move. How in the hell was Gerard here? He was dead! Wasn't he?

Slowly, she moves her thumb to hover over the button in her palm. She gulps and presses it. Slowly, her body begins to move along with the machine, and soon enough her whole body is out.

She braces herself for what she is about to see, but even then she is not prepared for seeing her grandfather standing before her, sneering down at her.

"No granddaughter of mine needs to turn to fancy computers to tell her what's wrong when she already knows what is. You're not strong enough."

"The hell I'm not," she challenges, darting up quickly and instantly regretting it when her vision blackens momentarily.

"One pathetic human boy knocks you around a little and you have to go to the hospital? Please. How do you expect to hunt anything if you can't take a little bump to the head?"

"Sounds really pathetic coming from a guy who was killed by the Root of Evil. Didn't even put up a fight, did you gramps?"

Gerard smiles a tight smile and turns away from Camilla, hiding his features.

"You'd better leave soon, the nurse is probably on her way."

Camilla glances down at the button in her hand, forgetting that it also alerted a nurse.

Instantly, she shoots off the machine, ignoring her pounding head. She searches around the room for her clothes, locates them on a lonely blue chair in the corner, and grabs them. Realizing she didn't have time to change there, she heads for the door.

Before she leaves she turns back to Gerard, but no one was there.

Confusion clouds her mind, but she pushes it away and exits the room quickly.

Her bare feet are cold on the tiled floor of the hospital, and she grazes her eyes around her to find somewhere to change. Almost immediately she spots the world-known stick figure with a skirt placed above a brown door and she makes her move. She slides in to the bathroom discreetly and locks the door behind her.

Wasting no time, except for a little to try and steady her dizzy self, she strips of the hospital gown and gets into her own clothes. With that, she slowly reopens the door and peers out.

A male nurse rushes by, but doesn't notice her. She takes this as her opportunity to leave and she squeezes out of the bathroom.

Trying to retrace the path she and the doctor took to get to the room with all the machines, Camilla quickly treads through the hospital, quick to put her head down whenever she spots a doctor or nurse.

Soon enough she reaches the glass doors that were the exit to outside and she pushes through. The hot air of the night blasts her instantly, and she quickly moves away from the hospital, her sneaker-clad feet making hardly any noise on the pavement.

Knowing she had no way home unless she wanted to hotwire a car, she digs her phone out from her pocket and dials the number of the only person who would help her and never say a word about it to anyone.

The person on the other line answers after three rings, sounding gruffy and annoyed.

"Derek, I need your help… I kind of escaped from the hospital…"

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

****

Lydia and Nolan stroll through the mall, passing copious amounts of people heading for a sale they had just left. Although Nolan hadn't wanted to come at ten in the morning to go shopping, Lydia had insisted he go with her to get in on the summer sales. The boy hadn't bought anything though; he'd been there more to help Lydia pick out clothes than anything. As they head to the food court the conversation switches from Camilla's apparent head trauma to the baseball game.

"Baseball is really boring, I think," the girl says seamlessly, "really the only sport I like is lacrosse and that's because it's so violent. It was always great to watch when Jackson and I were dating and in a fight because he'd get smoked by some huge guy from the other team and it was literally so therapeutic."

"That's super adorable. So why did you go to the game yesterday then?" her male companion asks.

She flips her strawberry blonde hair over her shoulder and answers, "I had to make sure that slut Roxy wasn't all over my St – I mean, all over Stiles. Just regular Stiles, owner free Stiles."

Nolan rolls his eyes, "You two are literally so oblivious and I don't know how."

"What are you talking about?"

"Are you kidding me? The only reason Stiles is showing any interest in Roxy freaking Daribon is because he knows it'll make you jealous. Plus, Danny told me the other day that you and some reject named Aiden had gotten dirty-dirty with each other at Roxy's party… so…"

"Holy crap," Lydia remarks through clenched teeth, "he's doing this to even the score."

"That is how it would appear."

Lydia begins shaking her head, "I cannot believe he'd…."

"He'd what…?"

"Do you smell burnt cookies?" the girl asks abruptly changing subject.

"What? No, although I have smelled plenty of cookies lately. I came home from work yesterday and my mom had gone full-baker mode. There were ceiling high stacks of cookies – not really, but there were at least thirty batches made and more going in the oven."

"That's excessive. Tell me what diabetes is like. That stench though, ugh, it must be around here somewhere," Lydia says finally. "God it is overwhelming. How are you missing it?"

"JavaPit got a new baker; he had a hard time adjusting to the oven… I guess I just got a little immune to the scent of burning cookies – which reminds me, I have to work at eleven."

"I'll let you know then that this smell is horrendous."

Nolan chuckles half-heartedly, "I should really get heading home to change. Boy, I can't wait to serve coffee to snobby people for minimum wage."

"You have the time of your life. Thanks again for coming with me; you've got good taste… queer eye and all that."

"No," Nolan snaps, "not a queer eye. I just have regular eyes, and I can tell you now that that burlap sack of a dress would not have looked good on anyone."

"Yeah, yeah, get to work," Lydia laughs as her friend turns on his heel and walks off. The scent of burning cookies sweeps up as Nolan leaves, almost as if the smell was coming from him, but sooner than later she pushes the thought away – her mind focused on getting Cinnabon instead.

\-------

Putting another tray of cookies on the counter, Kelly Hayes looks at the mess before her.

"That's enough cookies," she says with a sigh, "we don't need all of these."

However, without another second of hesitation, Kelly grabs a bowl and the flour and beings measuring again so she can resume baking. The voices in her head stop talking as she pours the flour into the bowl and then grabs the flour.

"I'm leaving, Kelly," Marcel calls as he comes walking into the kitchen, wearing a button down shirt and a tie. "Did you ever stop baking last night?"

"No," Kelly replies coolly, "I did sleep though. I took a nap between the snicker doodles and the oatmeal raisins."

Marcel smiles softly and walks over to the cabinet to grab his travel mug; he fills it with coffee and then turns back to his wife, "I'll be back from Teaching Professor Conference in three days, okay? Don't, uh, push too hard with Nolan. He's warming up, but he still needs time."

Kelly briefly looks up and smirks, "No pushing. Got it."

"And, babe, remember to take your meds. Did you take them this morning?"

"Of course," she tells her husband. It was a lie,  _they_  had told her not to take them anymore and she trusted them more than she trusted Marcel.

"Good," Marcel says, walking over to his wife. He gives her a quick peck on the cheek and then says, "Maybe try making some more chocolate chip. Those are Nolan's favorite."

The blonde woman perks up severely at the sound of her son's name and then goes back to making the cookie mix, "More chocolate chip – thanks for the tip."

"Glad I could help. I love you; I'll see you in a few days."

Giving his wife one last kiss, Marcel walks out of the kitchen and to the foyer where Jane Fonda lays beside the stairs in a big, golden ball. The dog wags her tail, not getting up, as her owner enters the room. The older Hayes man grabs his suitcase from beside the table by the front door and smiles at his dog.

"Take care of mom for me, Fonda," he tells the dog before walking out of the house.

\-------

Sheriff Stilinski taps his pencil on his desk slowly, staring at his computer screen. His other hand is at his mouth, trying to dig out a piece of hamburger stuck in his teeth from lunch.

Without warning, his phone rings and he drops his pencil to pick it up.

"Sheriff Stilinski," he answers, still digging at the leftover food.

"Sheriff, we just got a call about screaming coming from the old Hale house. A woman was jogging through the woods and heard a girl scream. She wants you to send someone out there to check it out," Connie says from the other line.

"I'm on it," he tells her, hanging up without another word.

With a huff he stands up from his chair and walks over to his closed door. Pulling it open, he leans out and calls, "Lamb, get in here."

The blonde woman rolls her eyes from her desk but obliges to her superior. Soon enough she is standing before his desk and he is back in his seat, digging for dental floss in his desk.

"Lamb, there was a call from a jogger saying she heard screaming from the abandoned Hale house, I want you to go check it out," he informs her, still searching for floss.

Donna crosses her arms but doesn't respond, tapping her boot on the floor.

The sheriff notices her inaction and stops his search to look up at her.

"Now, Deputy," he adds on.

"Sheriff, with all due respect, you should send out another officer with a lesser position for this call. Kids sneak into that house all the time, it's probably nothing. I have a lot of work to do, so I really don't want to take this call," she responds, anger licking her words.

"But, Ms. Lamb, I'm the sheriff and I told you to. So you're going to do it, no questions. No ifs, ands, or buts."

"Honestly, Stilinski? Of all people in this office I do the most work. I have 101 things to do today, and this is not on my list. It would make a hell of a lot more sense for someone else to do it! Hell, even you could do it since the only thing you seem to care about getting done around here is eating lunch and then shitting it out later."

Anger surges through the man and he slams his palms against his desk, standing up quickly.

"Dammit, Donna! I make the orders around here! You don't know a thing about what I do in this office, or how hard I work! And if I recall, you're a deputy, so whatever I say you have to do! I need you out there because you have more experience in case this turns out to be something more than kids messing around! Do NOT question my orders!"

Donna licks her lips, about to spew something nasty out, when Ben walks in knocking on the door.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, sir, but I can go if you'd like. I have the same amount of experience as Deputy Lamb and I'm not too busy at the moment," he offers, eyeing them both.

"Whatever, Officer Hunt. Be careful. Donna, get the hell out of my office before I fire you," the sheriff says in a quieter voice, sitting back down in his seat.

Obliging, Donna storms out of the office and slams the door, making the blinds on the door blow up in the air before falling back down and swinging back and forth from the impact of the slam.

\-------

Slumping down on the couch in the familiar, homey Stilinski living room, Scott sighs.

"What's wrong dude," Stiles asks absently as his phone vibrates with another text from Roxy – feeling as though he's run out of options, Stiles turns his phone off. He'd gotten ten texts from Roxy in the last fifteen minutes after he'd told her he had to go. His apparent 'girlfriend' was really going overboard with 'affection.'

"I'm just so pissed off at Derek. I don't know what he wants from me," Scott says, "I'm sure as hell not going to join the Alphas, they're cold blooded killers… and I refuse to kill someone to be initiated. And I'm not going to join Derek's pack again and act like I'm not the True Alpha. Derek doesn't have any authority over me and I'm not going to pretend like he does."

"Well, Derek is sort of a better Alpha," Stiles retorts.

"What the hell, man?"

Stiles shrugs, "I'm sorry, Scott. But, I mean, he is. When things got tough last fall, Derek stood strong, he held his own with Miss Blake and the Alphas and even Malum Radix – not to mention Peter and Jackson when he was all Kanima-y… but you, I mean god dude, things got difficult and you just left. You might be a True Alpha but you're really kind of a pussy."

"I lost Al… I lost someone I loved, Stiles."

"Yeah, well Derek lost his whole family. And then he lost Erica and Boyd," Stiles points out, "we've all got problems, Scott. How we handle those problems is what really determines the type of person we are – or in this case what type of Alpha."

Scott looks down at his sneakers, "I just…"

"You just handled the situation as best you could, I know. But you weren't the only one who lost Allison. Lydia was heartbroken, Camilla went radio silent and was basically a shut in for like three months… and Nolan was a wreck too and he didn't even know Allison all that well. We had each other to lean on though, we needed you then Scott."

"I'm sorry," Scott whispers, "I shouldn't have left like I did. I know that."

"No you shouldn't have. Lydia and Camilla and me… all of us could've helped you deal. Instead though, you abandoned ship. Things got hard and you left, but that isn't the point right now. The point is this: even though you're the 'True Alpha,' Derek has the chops for it. Maybe if you rejoin his pack you can slowly take the reins. Derek taught you how to be a werewolf in the first place, maybe he could teach you how to Alpha."

"Stiles, I can't just…"

"You can't just fake it. I know I heard you the first time. You've got to at least try though. Derek isn't going to let you just assume the role of Alpha especially after you just skipped town and left the rest of us to fend for ourselves. You're gonna have to resume the role of abiding Beta and after time maybe you'll get to step up and be the leader," Stiles insists, "Derek is the man with a plan, he just always sort of has been. Look, call him and have him meet you at the Diner and you guys can settle this, okay?"

"What if –"

Stiles shakes his head, "There are no what ifs. You need a pack, Scott. Call Derek and you two canines can kiss and make up."

Reluctantly, Scott pulls his phone out of his pocket and dials Derek's number, waiting patiently for the man to answer. When he does answer, with a gruff 'What McCall,' Scott cautiously replies with, "Derek, I think we need to talk."

\-------

Camilla slowly trudges into her house, making sure to keep quiet, even though she was pretty sure neither her father nor Susan were home.

Having spent most of the night at the Hale house and that morning at the jazz bar, Camilla finally decided to head home. Her father had called her several times, as well as Isaac.

Feeling like she needed to take an hour-long shower, she made her way to her bathroom and began stripping off her clothes. Standing nude in front of the mirror, she decides to take a quick peek and see how well her bruises and cuts were healing.

She doesn't get a chance to check on them, however, because when she looks in the mirror, she sees a person behind her and chokes on her own scream.

Sitting on the top part of the toilets is Kate with an amused look on her face. Camilla instantly moves her hands to hide her naked body and she backs up against the sink, its exterior cold against her bare body.

"Relax, Cammy, nothing I haven't got myself," Kate speaks crossing her legs and staring directly into Camilla's eyes.

"First Gerard, now you? What the fuck is going on? Am I dead?" Camilla asks, spitting out her words.

"No, but I definitely am. Thanks to werewolves. Speaking of which, there's one here, by the way. I don't know how in the hell you expect to be a hunter when you can't even sense a werewolf in your own damn house," Kate rolls her eyes.

"Wait, what?" Camilla asks. Within a fraction of a second, she gets her answer when the door bursts open and Isaac enters the bathroom.

"Camilla, where the hell have you been?" he yells, his veins popping out of his neck.

"I-I… Um," she stammers, still trying to cover herself up.

Shaking his head, Isaac reaches over to the towel rack and pulls off a maroon towel and throws it in Camilla's direction.

"You disappear from the hospital without a word to anyone. You have a freaking concussion, do you know how worried I was that you were lying in some ditch dying and I couldn't do anything to help you? Did you even think?"

"Isaac, listen to me, I—"

"No, you listen! You have a serious head injury and you just leave without saying anything? I didn't even know what doctor was yours, I had to lie to your dad… What's your excuse?"

Suddenly, Kate speaks up, but Isaac doesn't seem to hear it.

"Tell him the doctor cleared you and you tried to find him but his phone was dead so you called Derek to come get you. It's half true anyways…" she snorts.

"I… uh. The doctor said I was okay, and I tried to find you but I didn't know where you were and your phone was dead… So I called Derek and stayed with him and Erica…" Camilla says without confidence.

Isaac rubs his hands together and paces the floor, "And what about this morning?"

"Tell him you went to visit Allison's grave," Kate says morbidly.

"I went to see Allison… My head injury just got me thinking about her… and I, I don't know. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I figured Erica or Derek would've said something…"

Isaac seems to relax a bit after that and he comes over and puts his arms around Camilla's waist.

"Hey, it's fine. I was just very worried. You scared the shit out of me, Camilla," he tells her softly.

"I'm really sor—" she begins, only to be interrupted by him kissing her passionately.

When they pull apart, Camilla glances over Isaac's shoulder to look at Kate, but the woman was gone.

"Let's just forget it, okay? You need some rest, so let's get you in the shower, and while you're in there I'll make you something to eat," Isaac suggests, his arms still around Camilla.

"Or you could shower with me," she proposes, a look of deviance on her face.

Isaac steps back a little and eyes Camilla curiously.

"You know, I think I like that idea better," he offers after a moment, reaching down and taking off his shirt.

Camilla smiles and drops her towel, turning to lock the door.

\-------

Erica's bare feet pad across the hardwood floor of Derek's house as she makes her way to the laundry room in the basement, a blue laundry basket in her arms piled high with clothes.

She sets the plastic basket down on the floor in front of the washer and turns the knob on the machine, a strong stream of water rushing out. The blonde grabs a bottle of Era laundry detergent that was resting on a shelf in between the washer and the dryer and adds the thick liquid to the rising water. After that she adds her favorite scent of fabric softener, inhaling the fresh scent before letting it pour into the spout.

She begins adding clothes from the basket, cringing at Derek's gym clothes, her fingers barely pinching the smelly fabric.

When the basket is empty, she is about to close the washer's lid, but leans her neck down to sniff the t-shirt she was currently wearing, one of Derek's. She immediately smells him on her shirt, and smiles. She shuts the lid and is about to move back upstairs when her ears pick up on the front door opening.

Frowning, she wonders why Derek was back so soon, he had just left for the gym about fifteen minutes ago. She rests at the bottom of the steps, her hand on the rail and one foot on the bottom step. She listens as footsteps slowly make their way into the house.

"What the fuck?" she mutters to herself, knowing Derek wasn't the one who had entered the house.

Using her speed and ability to stay quiet, she makes her way up the stairs quickly and prepares herself for an enemy, knowing none of her friend's would just waltz in to the house without a knock. Derek would kick their asses.

She slides against the wall when she emerges from the basement, quietly making her way to the front of the house where she could hear the intruder walking.

When she gets to the living room, her eyes widen at who she sees before her. Ben.

In full uniform, the officer was looking around the house with a confused expression, his hand resting on his gun in it's holder.

"Ben, what the hell?" she says after a second, causing the officer to jump and immediately draw his gun at her, his arms tight and tense.

Bewilderment fills his face and eyes as he recognizes Erica.

"Erica? What are you doing here?" he asks, his voice thick with confusion as his eyes take in the girl standing before him.

"I live here… The real question is what are YOU doing here? And also, could you put the gun down?" she says, her eyes glued on the weapon.

"Oh, right, sorry," he says softly, re-holstering his gun. "The station got a call from a jogger claiming they heard screaming coming from here. The last I knew, this house was abandoned… I would've knocked if I had known you lived here…"

Erica bites the inside of her cheek, unsure what to say next. She watches as Ben's eyes drift over her body, and suddenly, she remembers she was only wearing a t-shirt and panties, her tanned legs bare.

Ben clears his throat and says, "Well, sorry for the confusion… But I still have to file a report. There doesn't happen to be any dead or tortured bodies anywhere in this house does there? That would be a lot of paperwork, and I'd probably have to arrest you and…"

"No bodies here… The screaming was me," Erica says shyly, her cheeks burning red as she casts her eyes down, embarrassed to admit that she was the culprit.

"Your screams? I… Oh…" Ben pieces it together. "Right, well. I'm glad… Wait, not glad that you, um. Just glad it's not, you know, a dead body…"

"Mmhmmm," Erica replies awkwardly.

"Well, looks like I'm done here… Sorry again. I'll inform the station that this is no longer an abandoned house…"

Erica nods her head and watches as Ben slowly moves towards the door, still facing her.

"See ya around Erica," he says with a slight smile and a hint of a laugh in his words. He leaves the house and shuts the door softly.

When Erica hears his car door slam followed by the sound of tires crunching on gravel, she relaxes.

"What the hell is going on in your life, Erica?" she asks herself, collapsing onto a couch.

\-------

Derek isn't expecting an assault when he comes to the Diner. So when the thin Alpha lunges at him he can't help but let her get a few good punches in. Although the attack was a surprise, Derek quickly gets her off his back and onto the pavement, however she's up and ready to hurt Derek once again in the blink of an eye.

"Really, lady?" Derek asks as his face morphs and his eyes shine blue.

"I've got a name, angel," the woman beams, "it's Jessica, remember?"

"I don't care," he growls, "what the hell are you doing?"

Jessica chuckles, "I've got some orders, doll, and those orders include beating you to a bloody pulp to help send a message to your sweet little Alpha. I'm sorry though, I had hoped we'd have a chance at love. Oh well, c'est la vie."

Before Derek can reply, Jessica slams her fist into his jaw and sends him flying against the brick wall of the Diner. Shell shocked from the impact, Derek blinks hard and realizes what has happened just in time for Jessica to wrap her clawed hand around his throat and hold him against the wall as she allows her free hand to make contact with his face time and time again.

Derek maneuvers his leg and kicks the woman in the stomach, the kick manages to throw her off and away and get Derek out of her grip and once he's free he is back with a vengeance.

"Come on, werebitch," he growls as he pulls her to her feet by the hair.

Derek holds her steady and kicks her in the crotch causing her to double over; he's then able to knee her in the face. He does this twice before tugging hard on her hair so as to hear her scream in pain. Bent over and aching to be released, Jessica extends her hand and sinks her claws into Derek's leg, yanking upward with such brute force the man can't help but to howl in pain. He tosses her aside and watches her slide against the hard pavement before his hands instinctively go to the new wounds.

Back on her feet, slightly bloody, Jessica takes after Derek like a linebacker and tackles him to the ground. Here she straddles him and with a smile on her face begins punching him. Left fist, right fist, left fist, right fist – the woman assaults Derek's face over and over, enjoying the pain that erupts through her knuckles each time her hand and his face make contact. It's incredibly satisfying to Jessica as she literally knocks the look off of Derek's face with each blow.

Just as she picks up his head and slams it into the ground, Stiles' jeep pulls around the corner and onto the fight.

"What the hell?" Stiles spits out.

"Call Jackson and Isaac, I get the feeling we might need backup," Scott instructs as he hurls himself out of the Jeep and to the scene.

Scott rushes over to Jessica and Derek. Jessica's hand is midair, ready to punch Derek once more, when Scott reaches them. They boy grabs her arms and twists it back as hard as he can, not stopping until her hears the distinct crack of the bone. Jessica screams out in pain and allows herself to be grabbed by the back of the neck and thrown to the side.

After tossing the woman to the sideline, Scott reaches down and helps Derek up. Although the man's face is bloody, black and blue, Scott can see that it has already started to heal. Scott notices too, as Derek gets on his feet, that a leg wound has already healed entirely.

"What happened?" the teen asks Derek as they head toward Stiles' van.

Out of nowhere, Deucalion appears. He smiles at the two werewolves and says, "Oh, I just thought a good fight would do us all some good. Don't you agree boys?"

Stepping out into the light on other side of their leader, Ethan and Aiden – both shirtless and with werewolf face on – say in an eerie unison, "Yes, Deucalion."

"Let's get this party started then," the older wolf laughs as he rushes to Scott. Ethan and Aiden come and pin Derek to the wall. Scott catches a glimpse of the twins taking turns hitting Derek before Deucalion wraps his hands around Scott's throat and throws him.

Scott hits the ground with a thud, but gets back on his feet in no time. He puts his game face on, his eyes glow red and he growls at Deucalion.

The Alpha laughs, "Oh Scotty, see this is why I want you in my pack. You've got such an idiotic optimism. Certainly you don't think you can beat me."

"I can try," Scott says through clenched teeth before he charges the man with all he's got.

\-------

Lydia pulls the small brush over her big toe. The second coat of 'Throb' nail polish, which she'd partly bought just for the name, looked good with her slowly growing tan. She moved on down the line of toes and applied a second coat to each one before she set the bottle beside her on her bed and went back to looking at her Facebook home page.

Absently, Lydia turns up the song playing on her iTunes and then goes back to her Facebook feed.

With a tennis ball in her mouth, Prada comes into Lydia's room and hops up on the bed. She gingerly makes her way over to Lydia, drops the ball, and then plops down beside her owner. Prada huffs, almost as though the jump to get on the bed had completely worn her out.

"Good girl," Lydia remarks as she continues down the front page of her Facebook stopping when she comes to a picture of Roxy and Stiles from the baseball game.

Lydia can feel her stomach twist in rage as she stares at the picture. Stiles' dimpled smile is as cute as ever and Roxy is kissing his cheek – in that moment Lydia wants to do everything in her power to destroy Roxy. It's such a cute picture it makes her sick.

"That whore, she's such a skank… isn't she Prada?" Lydia asks through clenched teeth.

Prada perks up a bit when her name is called and then settles back down.

In a rage, Lydia clicks on the pictures and sees the caption 'Game with the Bae." Lydia's eyes then scan over the number of likes, more than a hundred and thirty. The girl can practically feel her blood boil as her hand balls into a fist and slams down on the keyboard. She wants to destroy Roxy at all costs and then she wants to destroy Stiles for making her feel so insane. Her heart is pounding hard in her chest and feels like someone is squeezing it.

The smell of burnt cookies fills Lydia's room suddenly. It's overwhelming and almost like its suffocating her it's so strong, Lydia pinches her nose and tries to breathe in through her mouth, but the smell somehow doesn't lessen even with this attempt to get rid of it.

The girl no longer feels her blood boiling, instead a cold feeling washes over Lydia's body, she releases her nose and freezes as her mouth drops open. A scream escapes the girl's lips, sending the nail polish bottle off the bed and Prada running from the room.

Lydia's body launches forward against her will as she continues to scream. Her heart is racing and her ears are ringing. Lydia's throat feels raw as the scream intensifies and slowly falters and turns into a whimper. Her hand reaches up and covers her mouth as she feels tears uncontrollably running down her cheeks, her heart slows from the rapid pace it had been moving at when the scream had overcome her, as the realization of what the scream meant comes over her.

She swallows hard and wraps her fingers around the key shaped pendant of her necklace.

Someone was going to die.

Lydia looks down at the floor and sees the red nail polish splattered on the hardwood looking exactly like freshly spilled blood.

\-------

"Camilla, please stay in the car. Please, babe. I don't want you getting hurt," Isaac pleads, grabbing Camilla's face and looking at her right in the eyes. "If anything happened to you I would lose my mind. Please. Stay here."

Camilla's eyes pore into Isaac's as she deliberates the decision in her head.

"Fine," she answers after a moment, not knowing if she actually meant it.

"Thank you," he breathes out, relieved. He pulls her face closer and plants a kiss on her lips, letting it last for a few seconds before pulling away. "I love you."

"I love you."

With that, Isaac gets out of the car, leaving Camilla in her car alone, her mind racing.

She knows this is exactly what she had been preparing for. She was ready. Isaac thought she wasn't, but her work with Graham gave her the skills she needed. She could do this.

Instantly making up her mind, she opens her car door and shuts it quickly, not before grabbing a knife, and hurries toward the side of the building to walk around to the alley where everything was going down.

When she arrives, the scene before her is utter chaos. Bricks were crumbling from the walls of the buildings, shirts were torn to shreds, and every wolf had their claws out, attacking.

Camilla watches, her stomach writhing, as Isaac and one of the twins grab and growl at each other.

Scott and Derek weren't any better off, both dealing with Deucalion and who Camilla could only assume was Jessica.

The brunette jumps as she watches the female werewolf slash across Derek's face, blood pouring from the wound. The wolf doesn't seem fazed, however, and he grabs Jessica by the hair and tosses her into a wall.

She turns her eyes back to Isaac and is shocked to see that he was not fighting just one of the twins but both of them. The two were obviously more powerful than Isaac, and it was clear that he was losing.

Fire erupts throughout Camilla's body, and her hands begin to visibly shake as she contemplates her next move.

Before she can decide anything, Isaac spots her and his eyes widen.

"Get out of here!" he yells. This slight distraction proves to be dire, because right when he turns back to the fight, Aiden grabs him and throws him across the alley. With Isaac out of the way, the twins focus on Camilla, smiles on their faces.

Her grip tightens on her knife and she prepares herself for their attack.

The next few minutes go by in a blur, Camilla barely registers what happens, her body fueled with adrenaline and anger.

She faintly remembers running at one of the twins and attacking instantly, catching him off guard. After that, it was a jumble of punches, kicks, and attacks with her knife until everything goes black.

Soon enough, Camilla opens her eyes, her head pounding, feeling worse than it ever had before. She registers the cold pavement beneath her, slightly damp and making her clothes feel soggy.

The pain hits her instantly, and she clenches her teeth, feeling the terrible pain wash over her. Her right leg screams and she manages to sit up well enough to see the slash marks that mar her skin, her jeans barely even jeans anymore.

Her once white shirt was a mess of mud and blood. Whatever was left of it anyways.

That's the farthest she can examine, because soon enough her vision blackens again until everything was dark.

The next time she awakens, she was in someone's arms and they were calling her name.

"Camilla, please. Please, baby, wake up," pleads the voice she knew all too well.

"Isaac," she gasps out, trying to get her eyes to focus on her boyfriend's face.

"Oh, thank God. Camilla, baby, stay awake okay? We're going to get you to the hospital."

"What happened?" she manages to get out next.

Isaac doesn't answer, and his face looks pained. Suddenly, another face joins his. Jackson.

"How is she?" he asks Isaac, keeping his eyes on Camilla.

"She's awake. We need to get her to hospital, where is Scott with her car?" Isaac growls.

"What happened?" she demands again, trying to sit up.

"Camilla, babe, don't move, you're hurt," Isaac begs her.

"Tell me what happened!" she cries out.

Jackson looks over at Isaac, who won't answer. Instead, Jackson reveals the events to Camilla.

"You attacked the twins. And you didn't just attack, you demolished them. It was them against you, and you kicked their asses. I'm pretty sure Ethan had to be dragged out of here. Once Deucalion realized the fight wasn't doing anything productive, he made his minions retreat. It was a good thing too, because Aiden wasn't faring too well against you," Jackson says with pride in his voice.

"Don't encourage her, she could've gotten herself killed!" Isaac spits out, glaring at Jackson. Turning back to Camilla he says, "Camilla, I told you to stay in the car. Why in the hell did you think it was okay to come in and fight? You aren't invincible!"

Before another word is said, Scott joins their group, worry evident on his face, as well as a few healing wounds.

"Sorry, I don't know how to drive stick," Scott pants. "How is she? Will she be okay?"

"She's fine, we're taking her to the hospital," Isaac mutters. "Help me move her to the car, okay?"

The three do their best to get Camilla up without moving her too much. It was still extremely painful anyways, and Camilla nearly passes out just from being moved a few feet.

"Stop, please," she cries out, feeling hot tears pour down her face. "Please. It hurts."

"I know baby," Isaac says soothingly, the hurt apparent in his voice. "We're trying."

"Let's just rest for a second or she'll pass out again," Jackson offers. The others oblige and Camilla tries to relax.

She scans her eyes around the alley, trying to get a look at the damage. Her heart nearly stops when she spots a figure resting on a wall, a smirk on her face.

"Allison?" Camilla chokes out, almost inaudibly.

"Sup, Cleavage?" her dark-haired cousin responds, stepping away from the wall and walking toward her.

Isaac looks down at Camilla, his expression full of worry, "Babe, what did you say? Do you want to try moving again?"

"No!" she screams out, keeping her eyes on Allison, who nobody else could see apparently.

"Damn, Camilla, you really went hard tonight, didn't you? I've got to say, I'm very proud. You took out two Alphas alone. And you're still alive… I couldn't even stay alive in a tub of water," Allison says, now standing right next to Camilla.

The girl looks over at Scott, a sad smile on her face.

"I'm glad you got back into training," Allison reveals. "I feel better knowing you can take care of not only yourself, but others too." Camilla watches as Allison continues staring at Scott, her eyes full of sorrow.

Snapping out of it, Allison turns back to Camilla, a more serious expression on her face.

"Speaking of which, you need to get to Nolan. Now. Find a way to get them to take you there. He needs your help."

The girl turns to leave and Camilla watches, trying to form words in her mouth.

"Wait!" she screams out, her voice cracking.

"What is it babe? We're not moving, you're okay! But we need to go soon," Isaac informs her, petting her hair lightly.

"Get to Nolan!" Allison warns before disappearing in the darkness.

"Camilla, answer me," Isaac pleads, his voice all worry.

The brunette turns to her boyfriend and looks at him right in the eyes.

"We need to go to Nolan's," she reveals.

Isaac nearly laughs, the idea so absurd.

"Camilla, you are bleeding and you are severely concussed, you need medical help! Nolan can wait," Isaac responds.

"Isaac, please, we need to. We have to. Please!" she cries desperately, tears coming out harder. Camilla starts shaking, making her pain worse, but she was not going to let Allison down. "Isaac, please. I'm fine. I'll go after, but we need to see Nolan. Please!"

"Dude, I think we should go. Plus, you saw what she did to the twins…" Jackson adds.

"Jackson, stop being an ass!" Scott warns.

"Please, Isaac, please. He needs us, I just know it," Camilla begs, her voice small.

Isaac looks at her, his eyes full of pain as he thinks.

"Fine, but the minute we find out Nolan is okay, we're going to the hospital," he caves in. "But we still need to get you to the car. Are you ready?"

Camilla answers yes and clenches her teeth at the pain.

\-------

Tired from a long shift at work, Nolan saunters up the front steps of his house and finds his house key. The lights on either side of the front door illuminate the porch and Nolan can see the startling number of bugs repeatedly banging into the light. Sticking his house key into the lock, the auburn haired boy steps into the house and – like clockwork – drops the set of keys into the bowl beside the front door and seamlessly steps out of his shoes.

Having seen his father leave for a conference that morning, it was odd to Nolan that the house wasn't totally quiet. With his mother newly returned from Eichen House, the boy was still adjusting to life with two parents.

Although he doesn't want to, Nolan heads toward the kitchen to let his mother know that he is home from work. The second he steps into the dining room he can smell the wafting scent of freshly baked cookies flowing from the kitchen. He steps through the archway and into the kitchen where he sees piles of cookies – upwards of a hundred he assumes. His mother's green blouse covered back is to him as he grabs a chocolate chip cookie from the kitchen table and takes a bite of it.

"I'm home," he says after he chews and swallows the cookie. His mother's stays turned away from him and seeing her in front of the stove was evoking memories of his childhood from the deepest pits of his brain.

Shakily, his mother turns around and stammers, "This isn't right, Nolan. Oh, baby, I'm so sorry."

Nolan's eyes go from his mother's crystal blue eyes to the shiny chef's knife in her hand.

"Mom, what's going on?"

Kelly shakes her head, blonde strands of hair falling from the bun at the back of her neck, "This is all wrong, Nolan. I've brought this upon you and… it's just what they wanted. I know it is, they wanted me to bring you to them!"

"What? Bring me to who?" Nolan asks, taking a step toward his mom.

Kelly swings the knife at her son, "NO! Don't come closer; I'll infect you like they infected me. Oh why did they do this? They made me seem crazy. But I'm not, I'm not insane, I'm just on a much higher plane of sanity than they are. Oh no, no, no, NO!"

"Mom, tell me what's going on?"

"I wish it wasn't like this, sweetie," she sighs, "I wish I could be your mommy again. But they're out there and they want ME! I can't let them get me though… oh but if I'm gone then what? Then what?"

"Who are you talking about, mom?"

Kelly shakes her head violently, "They tried to take me from you, like they took Annalise from me. But I won't let them. I can't. Not again. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice and I'll CUT you."

"Mom, please put the knife down. You're scaring me," Nolan pleads.

"They… they put things in my head. My head, Nolan, my HEAD! I don't know why, but they made me look sick and they said that with me gone they'd come and get you. Nolan they're coming to get YOU!"

"Mom," he says slowly, taking a slow step toward her, "mommy, who are you talking about?"

"STAY BACK!" the woman screams.

The two both pause as they hear the front door open and close. Nolan's breathing is paused and Kelly's is jagged, like she's just run a marathon. Suddenly, a voice calls out, "Nolan, are you here?"

"Oh dear," Kelly mumbles, "oh dear, oh dear! They're here already! Oh, Nolan I'm sorry my baby."

Nolan turns around just as Jackson walks into the kitchen, "We need your hel… woah what's going on? Mrs. Hayes, uh, what're you doing with that knife?"

"No. No. NO! NO! NO! I'm not crazy!" she screams, grabbing a chair from the table to use as a shield, "You all think I'm NUTS! But I'm not I swear they just wanted me to seem that way so they could get to Nolan!"

"Who? Who is she talking about," Jackson asks.

"I have no idea. Jackson, call 9-1-1," Nolan instructs.

"DON'T! They're coming for me, but I'm not going to let them. NO! NOT THIS TIME! THEY JUST CAN'T! They want to hurt you Nolan, like they hurt Annalise. But… you," Kelly points at Jackson with her knife, "you have to protect him. PROTECT HIM! Promise me!"

"Mommy, who is after me?" Nolan asks his mother, hoping to break through to her.

"PROMISE, WEREWOLF!" she screams as loud as she can.

Nolan turns his head slightly to look at Jackson who has an expression of conflict on his face, yet he firmly says, "I promise. I promise he won't get hurt."

Kelly lets out a sigh of relief and smiles, "Oh thank you. You're a good boy; good boys get to stay inside."

Believing the threat to be over, Nolan lets out a sigh of relief as well.

Its then that Kelly talks the knife and sticks it into her wrist and pulls it down to her elbow and then repeats the motion on the other arm. Her screams of agony echo through the room as blood pours from her wounds. The blonde woman drops to her knees in pain, the knife slipping out of her apparently limp hands as she falls, tears beginning to slide down her pretty face.

"I'm sorry, Nolan," she says as she collapses to the ground completely, blood seeping into her hair as she hits the floor. "I'm so, so sorry."

The most startling thing is when the blood stops pouring out crimson and instead falls out of her as black ash. Kelly groans in distress and with her mouth open allows more black ash to flow. The woman appears to deflate then, as though she was a balloon that had just been popped.

Horrified, Nolan turns around and rushes into Jackson's protective embrace. Kelly continues to deflate as the ash begins to empty itself from her eyes and ears as well as her cuts and mouth. The ash briefly turns back into blood just before it stops flowing. Kelly no longer looks remotely human; she looks like a discarded skin suit.

Isaac, with Camilla in his arms, enters the kitchen with no warning, "We heard the screams and… what the hell – what the hell happened?"

Nolan grudgingly pulls himself away from Jackson and says, tears sliding down his face, "My mother just killed herself."

Tears begin to pour from Nolan's eyes as he sinks to the ground and buries his face in his hands, sobs escaping his lips every now and then. Isaac stands beside Jackson with Camilla in his arms, cradling her. The girl looks down at the deflated shell of Kelly Hayes on the kitchen floor and then to Nolan crying at Jackson's feet, she sadly slumps her head against Isaac's firm shoulder. Jackson places a hand on Nolan's head and begins to gently stroke his hair, helping to subdue the sobs.

Silence fills the cookie-packed kitchen in an uncomfortably ghostly way as the four teens allow the shock of what has happened settle in. It's the loud, high pitched squeal of the smoke detector that breaks the silence as it beeps in a quick succession over and over, completely breaking the calm that had settled over the kitchen. After that, Nolan's dog begins barking from the back yard. Isaac sets Camilla down in a chair and goes to search for the alarm and to let the dog inside as the smell of burnt cookies fills the room.

\-------


	17. Revelations (4x05)

Nolan sits on the couch wordless with Jackson's arm around him. The group of kids is in shock after the events of the night and Nolan feels an emptiness he hadn't ever experienced before. His heart pounds in his chest as he sniffles and the image of his mother dying, flattening out like she was nothing, replays over and over in his mind.

"My head hurts," Camilla says from the arm chair. "It feels like it's full of water and everything's blurry."

"We need to take you to the hospital," Isaac says, although he doesn't move from where he leans against the wall.

Jackson rubs a hand up and down Nolan's arm and asks, "Are you alright?"

"I don't know," the boy replies just above a whisper.

"Should we bury her?" Isaac asks suddenly.

Nolan perks up at the comment and locks eyes with the werewolf, "What is wrong with you? She isn't a bone you bury in the backyard, she's my mother. She… she  _was_  my mother. But regardless, she's a person and you don't just sweep people under the rug like that!"

Under her breath Camilla says, "She didn't look too persony to me."

"What's going on," suddenly asks a deep voice from behind the teens.

Nolan turns around and sees his father standing in the doorframe with a suitcase in his hand. His appearance – a white button down shirt and deep crimson tie – adds to the unsettling nature of the night.

"Dad I thought you were at a convention."

"My flight kept getting delayed and they cancelled it until tomorrow. Why is everyone so sullen? Who died?" the man jokes, not knowing the painful answer his question would receive.

Nolan gets up slowly and walks over to his father, hugging him before he says, "Mom died. She… she's gone."

The three other kids in the room can see Mr. Hayes' body tense and his face twist at his son's words. He reluctantly puts an arm around the boy and pats him, although it's clear he wishes the boy would release him.

"We're so sorry, sir," Camilla says, getting up only to wobble and sit back down.

Through pursed lips, Marcel asks, "Where is she?"

"In the kitchen," Jackson replies, "but her body isn't… it's sort of…"

"You three need to leave," Marcel says harshly, "you need to get out of here and forget what you saw tonight."

Nolan lets go of his dad and looks up at him, clearly confused, "What? Dad what the hell are you saying?"

"Go," Marcel says again, "you kids need to leave this house immediately."

Without a word, Jackson gets up from the couch and follows Isaac's lead, helping his fellow beta get Camilla out of the chair. The girl clings to her boyfriend like he's the thing keeping her tied to the world and at this point is seems almost possible that he is.

Camilla's eyes scan the room and she sees Allison once again standing beside Nolan. Her cousin nods curtly at her and then disappears. Camilla leans her head against Isaac's shoulder and shuts her eyes as tears begin to fall.

"We gotta get you to the hospital," Isaac insists.

"Okay," Camilla manages to say.

The couple walks out of the living room, into the foyer and out of the house in a matter of seconds, not even bothering to say goodbye before they exit. Jackson begins to follow their lead when he stops in his tracks and asks Nolan's father, "What are you going to do with..?

"I'll handle it," the man replies sharply.

Jackson starts to ask something else but resigns to saying, "Nolan, you call me if you need anything, alright?"

The werewolf walks over to Nolan and pulls him into a hug and squeezes him tight, whispering in his ear, "I'll keep you safe, I promise," before he lets go, smiles weakly, and then walks out of the house. The door shuts behind Jackson with a deafening thud and the two remaining Hayes stand in silence.

Marcel is rigid as he begins to make his way to the kitchen.

Nolan races after his father and asks crudely, "Would you care to tell me what the fuck is going on right now?"

The man shakes his head as he enters the kitchen and sees the deflated mess that was once his wife. He shudders violently and says, "Now isn't the time Nolan. I need to… I'll clean this up, but I think you should leave the room before I do so."

Confused and angry, Nolan turns on his heel and walks out of the room with one last glance at the pile of his mother before he goes. The disgusting sight of his mother's apparently empty body makes his stomach churn and he barely manages to get into the hall bathroom before the contents of his stomach make their way out.

The boy sinks to the ground and flushes the toilet absently as he begins to cry once again.

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Camilla slowly opens her eyes, the incessant beeping that had filled her dreams was still going and it wasn't stopping.

It's then she realizes she was in the hospital. Again.

Her eyes full of sleep; she shields them from the bright sun that was streaming through her windows. When she moves her arm to cover her face, she feels the tug of an IV in her arm.

"Camilla! You're awake!" she hears a familiar voice call from beside her.

She turns and sees Susan's excited face. Next to her is Isaac, whose face showed that he was happy, but there was something guarded in those green eyes.

"How long have I been out?" she asks, no emotion in her voice.

"Oh, Isaac says he got you here around midnight and it's almost ten o'clock now… You've been in and out the whole time, hopefully you can stay awake," Susan chirps in her ear. "Your father just left to get some breakfast, I think I'll join him, let you two talk."

Camilla smiles lightly at Susan, cursing in her mind.

She waits until she can no longer hear the click-clack of Susan's heels on the tiled floor of the hallway before she turns to face her boyfriend.

Preparing herself for a slew of angry words, she opens her mouth, ready to retaliate to anything he says.

But instead of being angry, Isaac speaks to her calmly.

"How are you feeling?" he asks.

Camilla looks over the boy, not sure if he wanted to know or if he was just trying to calm himself down.

"Honestly, I feel like shit, but…"

"But you deserved it," he finishes for her.

Camilla shakes her head and smacks her lips, "Here we go."

"Camilla, you know I—"

"Before we get into this, can you just tell me how Nolan is?" she interrupts.

Isaac's face instantly drops and his voice lowers.

"I don't know. He's not answering anybody's phone calls. I've been here the whole time and I'm sorry but I'm not leaving you to go find out."

Camilla blows out a heavy sigh.

"What the hell happened last night?" she asks, mainly talking about Nolan's mom.

"I don't know…" Isaac begins. "But what I do know is you were really stupid last night. I told you to stay in the car and not even five minutes later you're in the middle of a werewolf fight. Fighting two Alphas single handedly, might I add. What in the hell were you thinking? You could've gotten yourself killed! Not to mention you're already concussed!"

Camilla turns away, not wanting to look Isaac in the face. She felt bad for worrying him, but she wasn't going to just sit back and watch someone else she loved die.

"But the thing that confuses me the most is…" Isaac continues, "how did you beat them? This isn't an attack on you, but they were two very strong Alphas… and somehow you got them both…"

Camilla looks back at her boyfriend, the urge to just reveal everything was hurting her chest. She wants to tell him.

"It's because I've been training with Graham again," she says softly, keeping her eyes on Isaac's, watching as he takes in the new information.

"You've been what?" he asks, completely shocked.

"Don't you dare get mad at me. My cousin died, sorry for wanting to know how to protect myself. Bad things are constantly around me, I didn't want to be like some helpless little child. Besides, I already had the basics down, it was time I learned what my family has been doing for generations."

Isaac's eyes pour over Camilla's features as he tries to grasp her revelations.

"How long has this been going on?" he says calmly.

"A few months. Maybe longer."

"Are you going to stop?"

"No."

Anger rises in Isaac's chest, but he doesn't have time to let it out, because at that instant, their friends walk into the room, balloons and flowers in hand.

"She's awake!" Erica cheers happily, walking over and setting down the arrangement of daisies she had carried in.

Camilla turns her attention away from Isaac and smiles at everyone.

"And I'm sure I look like a lunatic, so my apologies," she tells them whilst patting down her hair.

"Well considering what you went through last night, I think we can let your unmanageable hairstyle slide," Stiles responds.

The group, including Lydia, Scott, Stiles, Jackson, and Erica, nods in agreement.

"What you did last night was so kick-ass," Jackson begins. "How did you fight off two Alphas on your own?"

Camilla shrugs, "I guess it's just in my blood."

Isaac scoffs and pushes his chair back loudly, "I'm going to get some breakfast."

With that, he grabs his jacket that had been hanging over the back of his chair and exits the room in a huffy manor.

Erica eyes her friend and turns back to Camilla.

"What's his deal?" she questions, instantly picking up on the tension.

"He's mad because… well… I've been training again. And I'm not going to stop. I like being able to fend for myself, and obviously it has been paying off," Camilla reveals to the group.

Before any more questions are asked, Fitz walks into the room breathing heavily.

"Sorry lads, I got a bit lost and had to wander for a bit," he tells the group, answering a question no one had asked. He turns to the brunette in the hospital bed and smiles, "You must be Camilla."

"And you are?" she asks, sort of already knowing the answer.

"I'm Fitz. Jackson's mate."

Camilla has to stifle a laugh, "Mate, huh? Didn't know you liked English muffins that much Jackson. I thought you were more into... I don't know… American coffee."

Jackson gulps, "She's kidding. She just knows how much I like coffee…" he tries to cover up quickly, glaring at Camilla.

"Well coffee is quite enticing, but I'm more of a tea fan," Fitz adds on, again telling the group things they didn't care to know.

"Shocker," Camilla says under her breath, then turning to the group she says, "So, Harry Potter, how has the United States been treating you?"

"Quite well, actually. I believe I might even attend your high school if things go well," the British boys exclaims excitedly.

"Oh jolly good!" Camilla mocks him.

"Sorry," Lydia offers to Fitz who looks a bit offended. "She must be a little high on morphine at the moment. She's usually not this rude to people she just met."

"Oh, bloody hell, this morphine makes me bonkers!" Camilla chimes in a fake British accent. "I do say, Mary Poppins, I quite enjoyed your company, but nobody here fancies your spoon full of sugar, so why don't you just hop on out and catch a train to see the Queen?"

"Uh…" Fitz begins.

"Well, I think that's our cue to go, Camilla must be feeling those pain meds for sure. Let's let her get some rest," Erica lies, ushering everyone out.

"See ya later, Camilla," Stiles waves goodbye.

Fitz's face has a confused expression as Lydia walks him out.

"Try and tone it down a bit, okay?" Erica laughs, reaching over to squeeze Camilla's hand. "We'll be back soon."

"Please don't bring Collin Firth next time," Camilla begs.

"Dude, that's my boyfriend," Jackson scolds her.

"Yeah and Nolan is my friend," Camilla snaps back, knowing the story very well.

Jackson looks down at his feet, "I'll see ya later," he murmurs.

Erica is the last one left in the room, her teal blouse the only shred of color left in the bland area besides the balloons and flowers.

"How is Nolan? Has anyone gone to see him?" Camilla inquires, worried about her friend.

"I think Lydia is going to stop by later. We're trying to give him space. He isn't picking up, so maybe he just doesn't want to talk. But we'll figure that out later, what's with you and Isaac?" Erica asks her friend, taking a seat at the end of the bed.

"He's mad because I won't stop training," Camilla rolls her eyes. "It's not like I'm doing it to plan the downfall of all werewolves. It helps me feel better. It gives me peace knowing that I can fight back and I don't have to rely on a man or wolf to save me if I need it. I don't see why he doesn't understand…"

"I think he's just worried that you'll get hurt. You're fighting some scary things now, and you don't heal like us… It's scary for him," Erica tries to tell Camilla.

Before they can talk it out anymore, Ron and Susan return with coffee in hand.

"Erica! So great to see you!" Susan says happily, reaching over to hug the blonde.

"You too, Susan. But I've gotta get going. Derek just texted me."

The group says their goodbyes and Camilla is left with her father and Susan.

"Where'd Isaac run off to?" Ron asks, sipping his coffee.

"Good question," Camilla answers.

\-------

Lydia walks up the front steps of the Hayes house, a wind kicking up causing her light blue skirt to blow along with it. She balls her hand into a fist and begins to knock on the door when she realizes it's slightly opened.

"Well this can't be good," she says to herself, as she pushes the door open the rest of the way and walks into the house. No lights appear to be on as she steps into the foyer and the smell of cookies fills her nose.

The scent makes her want to vomit after the previous day's events.

"Nolan?" she calls into the dark house.

Her heels click on the hardwood floors as she walks into the living room. Here she spots Nolan sitting on the floor surrounded by an array of papers and books. They're spread around him in such a messy way the girl is able to tell that to Nolan they're perfectly organized.

"Nolan," she begins, walking over to her friend, "what on earth are you doing?"

The boy looks up at her and shrugs, "I'm trying to figure out what the hell my mother was."

"What?"

"Didn't you hear? Last night my mom killed herself and instead of dying like a regular person she expelled ash from her body and deflated. That doesn't exactly scream 'human' to me, so I'm trying to find out what the hell she was."

With hesitance, the girl walks over to the floor lamp beside the fireplace and gets some light into the room. With everything visible, Lydia is now able to see how badly her friend looks. His eyes are puffy from crying and have dark circles under them from lack of sleep. Lydia's own eyes lock on a book beside Nolan that has a woman straddling a man on it, from the image it appears she is sucking the life from him, "You think she was a succubus?"

"Actually, I do have a few theories."

"And they are?"

"Unicorn, fairy, teenage mutant ninja turtle… well, I guess middle-aged mutant ninja turtle."

The girl rolls her eyes, "Nolan, come on."

"My mother wasn't human," he says exasperated, "she was something supernatural… and assuming she was my birth mother that means I'm half whatever she was. I'd sort of like to know what the hell is in my gene pool."

"Sweetie, you look awful," the girl sighs, "did you get any sleep last night?"

Nolan shakes his head.

"Come on," she says, stretching out her hand, "let's go lay down for a little bit."

"Lydia, I need to figure this out," he shouts, his voice cracking on the last word. He covers his mouth with his hand and then he begins to cry, burying his face in his hands as sobs escape his lips.

Without a second thought, Lydia gets down on her knees and pulls her friend into a hug. Nolan wraps his arms around her and cries into her shoulder, his heart tightens in his chest as Lydia tightens the hug. She rubs her hand in a circular motion against his back and soothingly shushes him.

"Shhh," she says, "it'll be okay, Nolan. It's all going to be okay."

\-------

Isaac slams his controller down and thrusts his hands in the air.

"Victory!" he cheers, rubbing it in Scott's face.

"Yeah yeah, let's play another round. I went easy on you," Scott teases.

Isaac looks at his watch and sighs.

"I should probably head back to the hospital, they're letting Camilla out soon," he tells Scott, not using the most excited of tones.

Scott leans back against his leather couch and looks at Isaac.

"Is that a bad thing?" he questions.

Isaac runs his palms over his jeans, deciding how to answer the question.  
"Yes and no. It's good she's well enough to go home, but she's going to take it as her being well enough to get back into training. Oh yeah, she's been training with Graham."

"Yeah she told us," Scott says quietly. "Why does it bug you so much? Allison used to train."

"Well the fact that it's her and her ex-boyfriend being close in contact doesn't make me too thrilled. But I don't know… I just don't like it that she's going to think she can fight any and every thing that happens to come into Beacon Hills."

"Did she tell you why she was doing it?"

Isaac pauses, "Because of Allison. She wants to feel safer."

Scott takes in the information and smiles a small smile.

"So why does that upset you? It's for a good reason. What happened to Allison was… tragic. Camilla just realized that life is short, especially when you're dealing with supernatural creatures on a daily basis. What if one day you're not there to help her? She would have no idea what to do really. This is a good idea, Isaac. Plus, it gives her a peace of mind."

"I just don't like that she lied to me," Isaac reveals, picking at a loose thread on the couch.

"If she had told you the truth from the beginning, would you have been okay with it?"

"No, probably not."

"She was scared. Her cousin had just died and she wanted to feel safe again. Hunting is in her blood, I'm not shocked this is what she turned to. She and Allison had a lot of similar qualities; I see Allison's fighting spirit in Camilla. This was bound to happen. The Argent women aren't ones who sit around and bake cookies all day. They fight."

Isaac processes the information and finds truth in Scott's words.

"I should probably go make up with her, huh?" he asks after a moment or two.

"That's another thing about Argent women. They never apologize first," Scott laughs.

Isaac shakes his head and smiles. He stands up from the couch and stretches, his mind at ease after his chat with Scott.

\-------

Two hours later, Camilla slowly walks up her sidewalk. Even with black sunglasses on, the sun still made her head hurt.

Ron was holding on to her arm and walking along by her side, taking slow steps to match her pace.

Finally arriving at the front door, Susan sticks her key in and turns, revealing Camilla's house. She never thought she could be happier to see her home.

"Uhhh, when I get inside I'm just going to take a long, hot bath and then I'm going to take a nap until next week," Camilla groans, still moving slowly to get into the house.

Her plans are heeded when she steps inside, however. Just before her, sitting on the couch, was her uncle Chris, who had left town after Allison's funeral, even more surprising, next to him was a young woman who looked like a Hawaiian version of Allison. Camilla had to do a double take.

"Surprise!" Susan cries out.

"Surprise," her uncle Chris says in a happy tone, standing up and crossing the floor to hug Camilla as tight as he could without hurting her.

The brunette inhales his familiar scent, and when he pulls away she takes note of his tanned skin.

"Chris, where have you been?" Camilla asks, still surprised. Her eyes keep drifting over to the woman who was now standing near the couch.

"I went to Hawaii. I needed to get out of Beacon Hills for a bit," the man offers up. "And I'm so glad I did, because I met Leilani."

He gestures over to the Allison look alike and she walks forward.

"Leilani, this is my niece Camilla. Camilla, this is my girlfriend Leilani," Chris introduces everyone.

"Nice to meet you," Leilani says politely, offering out her hand.

"Yeah," Camilla manages to get out, still in awe of how similar she looked to Allison.

Eyeing Camilla, Chris looks at all the gashes and bruises.

"So you really took out two Alphas?" he asks, the pride showing in his smile.

Camilla opens her mouth to answer, but looks over at Leilani, unsure of what to say next.

"It's okay, Camilla. I'm from a family of hunters too. It's how Chris and I met actually," Leilani informs the girl, looking over at Chris and smiling.

"Oh, okay. Um, yeah. I did. The twins, actually. I don't remember much, but apparently I kicked ass," Camilla tells her story, still watching Leilani/Tan Allison.

Chris places a hand on Camilla's shoulder, beaming brightly.

"That's my girl. I'm so glad you started training. I talked to Graham for a bit and he couldn't stop talking about how good you've gotten. Obviously, since you held your own last night."

Camilla smiles warily.

"Um, sorry to interrupt, but I'm feeling sort of dizzy, is it all right if I lay down?" Camilla asks unsurely.

"Oh, geez, of course. I forgot you're actually hurt. Don't worry, I'm back in town for a while, so we've got all the time in the world to catch up. Plus I'm sure you and Leilani could share some fighting tips."

"Sounds great," Camilla says halfheartedly, still not over their similar looks.

"I'm going to take her to her room, don't want her passing out on the way there," Ron jokes, grabbing Camilla's elbow and helping her about the house.

When they were far enough away from Chris and Leilani, Camilla hisses in her father's ear.

"What the hell is that? Could he have picked anyone else who didn't look exactly like Allison?"

Ron looks at Camilla and she can tell instantly that he thought the same thing.

"Honey, the man is grieving. I don't think he specifically singled out a woman who looked like Allison. Like they said, they met because they are both hunters. It's just a crazy coincidence, however weird it is."

Camilla shakes her head, not knowing what to say.

The two finally get to her room and Ron helps her sit on her bed.

"When is Isaac coming over?" Ron asks, sitting down next to his daughter.

"Soon. I think he still feels bad about being an ass earlier and he wants to get me a present or something," Camilla smiles.

Ron laughs lightly.

"Well, I'm glad he's coming around, because I'm so proud of you. Don't get me wrong, I was scared to death when I got that call last night, but I'm happy you're okay. We can't change the craziness that's in our lives, we can only roll with the punches, and you training makes me feel better about sending you to hang out with werewolves everyday."

Camilla leans over and rests her head on her dad's shoulder.

"I'm just happy to be home," she says truthfully, running her hands over her familiar purple bedspread.

"I'm happy too," Ron says, kissing the top of her head. "Now you need to get some rest. But not too much. I'll be in every ten minutes to check on you."

Camilla laughs and swings her legs onto the bed, "Okay, Dad. See you in ten."

Ron shakes his head and shuts the door as he leaves, leaving Camilla alone with her thoughts.

\-------

Stiles sips on his milkshake as Roxy stares at him from across the table. She smiles at him in an almost creepy way and takes a bite of her Doublemeat Medley, chewing with a smile on her face. It made Stiles uncomfortable.

Roxy swallows and says, "Thanks for taking me out. This has been a great date."

Stiles looks at their surroundings, it's just a simple Doublemeat Palace, yet Roxy's making it seem like he'd taken her to some five star restaurant to dine on some lobster… as opposed to the Dollar Menu meal she was currently over-enjoying.

"No problem," he chuckles.

"So, like, look I need to say something… and it's kinda crazy. You'll think it's crazy but, I want to say it anyway."

"Okay, shoot."

"I think I'm in love with you," she says her eyes wide, "oh wow, that just sort of slipped out… it's just that I… I've never felt such a connection with anyone before. Like I've had plenty of boyfriends, like tons of boyfriends, like I've got a mountain of exes, and I never felt this strongly about any of them. I love you, Stiles."

"Are… are you crying?" Stiles asks.

Roxy laughs and brushes a tear off her cheek, "I'm sorry! It's just… well, how do you feel?"

"I… well… look Roxy, you're great. Really you are. I mean you're a great kisser, like that thing you do with your tongue is just… how do you even do that?"

"Oh, I just sort of –"

"It doesn't matter right now. Look my point is, is that I don't love you. No offense or anything, like I said you're swell, but you're just not… you're not…"

"Pretty enough? Smart enough?" the girl asks, a rage building in her, "Go ahead, Stiles, say it."

"You're not Lydia," he concludes, "I can't be in love with you because I'm in love with Lydia and I have been since I was nine years old and… I love Lydia."

Roxy rolls her eyes, "Ya know what? Whatever. I'm a hot piece of ass, I'm wise beyond my years, and I'll do things in bed that most girls would never do – foot stuff even. I don't need you. You won't even pay for a real meal."

"You said you wanted to come here," Stiles reminds her.

"WHATEVS! I'm out."

In a huff, Roxy grabs a few more fries, stuffs them in her mouth, and storms out of the fast food joint. She doesn't give Stiles a second glance as she exits the building. It's when she's out in the parking lot she realizes he was her ride, but not willing to give him the satisfaction of going back inside she begins to walk home.

Stiles lets out a sigh of relief as he watches her take off down the street. As nice as she'd been she had also been incredibly crazy. He was glad to be done with her, but now he had to focus on the task at hand: telling Lydia how he felt.

\-------

"I don't care that you were meeting Scott there! What I care about is that you didn't tell me that you were leaving! I always tell you when I go somewhere!" Erica yells at Derek, slamming her hands on their kitchen table.

"Yes, which is incredibly unnecessary. I don't need to know when you're going to the store to get milk," Derek rolls his eyes.

"Oh, okay. So I'll just walk out of the house one day without saying a word and you won't even question it? Good to know."

"No, I'm saying I don't need to know where you are every second of every day, and the same goes for you knowing where I am."

In a more calm voice, Erica responds, "I'm not saying that. All I'm saying is that I would've liked you to inform me that you were going somewhere, especially with the Alphas back in town. You know as well as I do that they're out for blood."

"So what, every time a threat comes around you want to know my exact coordinates? You want to put a GPS in my cellphone or something?"

"Derek you're not listening!" Erica roars. "They're not only after you and Scott, they're after everyone. What if I need you and I have no idea where you are? What then? And with last night, what if they had killed you? I would've had no idea where to even look for you."

"Relax, they're not going to kill me," Derek tells her, shaking his head.

"They killed me!" Erica says, her voice cracking. "What makes you think they wouldn't do the same to you if they got the chance? There's no resurrection spell to bring anyone back this time, Derek!"

"Yeah well I'm not that immature of a werewolf to get myself killed, so they wouldn't even get the chance!" Derek spits out, the words like a slap to Erica's face. The man instantly regrets saying them.

Erica nods her head, taking in Derek's insult.

"Erica, look I—"

But the blonde doesn't stick around to listen. Instead she grabs her purse from the kitchen counter and walks out. Derek knows better than to follow her and risk more fighting.

Angered, he punches the wall, not surprisingly making a hole, which just makes him even angrier.

\-------

Lydia sits in front of her mirror, reapplying her lipgloss when there's a tap on the French doors that lead into her bedroom. With a jolt she whips around to see who's there and spots Aiden outside in a leather jacket, his face is badly bruised and his lip is split.

The girls gets up, fluffs her hair, and opens the door in a swift motion that makes her hair flow in a big swoosh of air, "Wow, looks like Camilla really beat the crap out of you."

"She, uh, she did do a number on me," the Alpha chuckles, "so what are you up to?"

"Hm, well I was just about to forget about you for the rest of my life."

"Come on, babe. No you weren't."

Lydia smirks, "Actually, honey, I was. You're not a good guy and I don't need you in my life anymore – if I'm feeling really needy to get laid I can find just about any other guy in this town who will be more than happy to do me. And most of them aren't cold blooded killers."

Aiden crosses his arms and scowls, "What are you even saying?"

"I'm saying that if I were locked in a room with you, Hitler, and Bin Laden and I had a gun with two bullets in it I would shoot you twice. You're a bad guy, Aiden, I don't want to be with the bad guys. When I look at you, I can only see the guy who helped kill Boyd and who attacked my friends last night. I'm not interest in pursuing things with you any longer."

The werewolf frowns, "Wow, you're a real bitch."

"Yeah, we're beyond done. I'll see you, well, hopefully I won't actually."

In a sudden, terrifying second, Aiden's eyes flash red and he begins to shift. His canines extend and he lunges toward Lydia who manages to move out of the way just in time, the girl begins to scream "Help!" when out of nowhere, there's a clanging sound a fist making contact with Aiden's nose.

"Ah, oh my god, ah," Stiles exclaims as he waves his hand back and forth in pain, "Jesus god! Oh ow that hurts!"

"What the hell, dude?" Aiden asks as he grabs his nose.

Stiles shakes his hand again and says snarkily, "Get out of here, you baby-faced weirdo."

The werewolf's eyes flash red again, but this time Stiles grabs a baseball bat that he had apparently dropped before he'd punched Aiden, he makes to swing the bat, but Aiden is quick to move out of the way.

"I'll be back," Aiden says with a growl and an eye roll. He turns his back to the two and begins to walk off, his pride clearly hurt from the exchange.

"You seriously need to find something better than a baseball bat," Lydia tells the boy.

"Sorry, it's all I had in my Jeep," Stiles retorts.

"What are you even doing here, Stiles?"

The boy lets out a sigh and says, "I came here to tell you that I ended things with Roxy."

Joy flashes across Lydia's face for an instant, but she quickly covers it up and asks, "And you wanted to share this with me because…?"

"I wanted to share it with you because I love you, you pain in the ass."

"Excuse me?"

Stiles rolls his eyes, "Jesus, Lydia. Come on, its not like this is any breaking news. I love you, I'm so in love with you it makes my head hurt. It's like you're this disease and I'm infected with Lydia Martin. I think about you all the time, I've imagined kissing you every day since that day in the locker room. I freakin' love you."

"Stiles…"

"No. Lydia, I love you. I love every single piece of you. I love your strawberry blonde hair, and I love your smile, and the way you can keep up with my sarcasm, and I love that you're smarter than I am and I love that you… I don't know. I just love you, why can't you just at least try to love me?"

"Are you kidding me? I do love you," she shouts, "I do, Stiles! I love you so much I feel crazy. Seeing you with Roxy made me want to crawl out of my own skin. Not to mention that you just.. God everything about you makes me love you! Even the stupid stuff, like always carrying a baseball bat, and doing research on everything, and getting hurt. When Matt was resurrected and he shot you, god just thinking about you hurt like that made me hurt because I love you so much."

"R-Really?"

"Yes, you idiot," she snaps, "I love you too. You make me feel special, you like me for me. I don't have to dumb myself down to make you feel superior – you aren't intimidated by brains. You accept me as is and I love that about you. I love you."

In the blink of an eyes Stiles has his arms wrapped around Lydia and their lips mesh. Lydia runs her fingers through his hair and the kiss intensifies.

Stiles pulls away first and puts his forehead against Lydia's. Both teens are breathing heavily.

"So," Stiles begins, "what does, uh, what does this mean?"

\-------

Camilla is staring up at her ceiling when she hears a knock at her door.

"I'm still alive, Dad! You can stop checking on me so often!" she yells to the door.

The door opens anyways, but instead of her father's head poking in, it's Scott's.

"Sorry, is this a bad time?" he asks nervously.

Camilla sits up and gestures him in, "No, it's good. Come in."

Scott steps into the room and leaves the door open a crack. Not knowing where to go, he stands awkwardly by her dresser, leaning against the dark brown wood.

"What's up, Crooked Jaw?" she asks playfully, a smile on her face.

Scott shakes his head, "I just wanted to check in on you. I was worried. I hate that you're involved in all this."

"Scott, I'm from a family of hunters and I'm dating a werewolf, it was inevitable that I ended up in this mess. I got myself here."

"But still, I just… I just wonder how different things would be if I never even talked to her… Allison, I mean."

Camilla eyes Scott, sensing the sadness.

"What do you mean?"

"If I would've just left her alone… Would she still be alive? Would I be dead, her father having killed me? Would you even be here in this mess?"

"Scott, hey. Everything that happened was fate. You were a werewolf, she was a hunter. One of you would've ended up dead anyways. I'm just glad it wasn't because of bad blood. You guys loved each other, and you never would've known that kind of love. And don't worry about me. I'm much happier here than I was ever before. I was never really that close with Allison, but you brought me back here. And I'm so grateful to have had the time with her that I got."

Silence passes through the room as both reminisce about Allison.

"You know, I see a lot of her in you," Scott reveals.

"Really?" Camilla smiles, looking Scott right in the eyes.

"Really, I do. It feels like there's a part of her that's still alive. Still here."

"Tell me about it," Camilla replies, remembering seeing Allison's ghost last night.

"I really miss her."

"Me too."

Scott looks right at Camilla and he doesn't look away. Something about the way he looks at her makes her really believe that he sees a lot of Allison in her. That made her happy. She was thrilled to have even a shred of her cousin in her.

"Are you okay, Scott?" Camilla asks.

"No," Scott responds with a smile, keeping his eyes on Camilla. "But I think I'm getting there."

\-------

With a jolt, Nolan sits up in bed and takes in his surroundings. Last he could remember it was daytime and he'd been sitting on the living room floor with Lydia crying. He wasn't sure how he'd wound up in his bed, but he was glad that he'd gotten some sleep. Slowly, the auburn haired boy gets out of bed and walks out of his bedroom, his bare feet sticking slightly to the hardwood floors.

As Nolan walks out, his cat Charlton Heston walks in ignoring his master completely.

In the upstairs hallway a thin light shines out into the darkness from his father's bedroom from a crack in the door. Sleepily, Nolan makes his way to the door and pushes it open all the way, inside he sees his father moving back and forth from his closet to his bed. It takes the boy a minute to realize that his dad is packing clothes into a large suitcase.

"What's going on?" Nolan asks his voice hoarse.

Marcel doesn't miss a beat, continuing to work as he says, "I've got to go out of town for a few days - not for the conference, but for… for something else."

"For what?"

"I can't say," Marcel says smoothly, "I'm sorry, but I can't say."

Confused, Nolan asks, "Okay, well, how long are you going to be gone?"

"I don't know, a few days… maybe a week."

"Where are you headed to?"

"Again, I can't say," the older man replies as he folds a Grateful Dead t-shirt and puts it into the suitcase.

"Seriously? You're seriously going to continue with the secrets? Seriously?"

"I'm sorry, son, but for now that's the only option."

"Really, honesty isn't an option?"

Marcel shakes his head, "Not in this situation, no."

Nolan nods and crosses his arms firmly against his chest, "Okay, would you care to at least tell me what the hell happened yesterday night? Maybe even tell me what sort of supernatural being mom was?"

Marcel stops moving and turns to face his son, "What?"

"What was mom?"

"She…" Marcel stops, searching for the words, "she was your mother."

"Yeah, no shit. But what  _was_  she."

"She was your mother. I say it again because I'm not sure you heard me the first time. What your mom was or wasn't shouldn't matter. She was your mom and she loved you and that's that, end of discussion."

"Actually, father," Nolan says venomously, "what mom was does matter – especially in this town. I get the feeling that whatever she was I am too… at least partly. I need to know what she was, what I am, for my own safety."

"I'm done talking about this," the man says as he quickly zips his suitcase shut.

Nolan follows his father with his eyes as the man struts out of the bedroom and marches down the stairs. For a minute, Nolan doesn't move but then anger overcomes him and he storms after his dad.

"We are so not done talking," he shouts.

"Look," Marcel says from the bottom of the stairs, "I get that you've got questions. I get that you want answers. I get that this is all very upsetting and confusing for you, but right now I need you to trust me."

"How can I trust you when you won't even tell me the truth?"

"Find a way," Marcel retorts, "while I'm gone I need you to promise me that you will lay low. Don't do anything to draw attention to yourself, don't go to any parties, don't go to the mall, just go to work and come home. Do you promise?"

"I'm supposed to become a hermit just because you tell me to?"

"This isn't for me, Nolan, it's for your safety. Promise me."

Nolan rolls his eyes, "Fine. I promise not to be noticed."

"Thank you," his father sighs, "I'll see you soon, okay?"

Marcel opens the front door and begins to exit when Nolan calls after him, "What about Jackson?"

Stopped, Marcel asks, "What about him?"

"He's supposed to protect me," Nolan says awkwardly, "mom made him promise right before she slit her wrists. Is it alright if I enlist him to be my wer–" the boy stops his sentence when he realizes his dad isn't aware of the werewolf situation in Beacon Hills, "If I enlist him to be my bodyguard?"

"If that'll make you feel safer, I don't see any reason against it. Just don't do anything, uh…"

"Don't do anything gay?"

Marcel sighs, "Please, Nolan, just please be careful."

Nolan watches as his father steps out into the night and shuts the door behind him. As the door closes, Nolan sinks to the ground and pulls his knees to his chin. Dog Jane Fonda, comes to him wagging her tail happily, she licks his cheek and starts panting in his face.

"Well, Jane Fonda… I hope you know how to kick some ass."

\-------


	18. Don't Know When I'll Be Back Again (4x06)

Camilla clenches her teeth as she makes an attempt to roll over and face Isaac. The werewolf can sense her pain and instantly takes a hold of her arm gently and begins taking some of her pain away.

"Babe, stop. You've taken enough. I'm fine, really," she encourages him. To prove her point she inches closer to him and passionately kisses him for a minute or two, moving her body on top of his.

"See? All better," she says, pulling her mouth away.

Isaac frowns, but keeps his hands firm against her hips, "I'm not convinced…"

Camilla's smile turns into a sly smirk as she says, "Oh, I can definitely convince you…"

The couple returns to their rendezvous for a while, but are interrupted by the sound of a toilet flushing from elsewhere in Isaac's loft.

Grabbing her shirt quickly and covering herself up, Camilla exclaims, "Fuck, I forgot Nolan is here."

"Cockblocking bastard," Isaac mutters under his breath, but not quiet enough for his girlfriend to hear it.

"Hey, you can get your hanky panky some other time. Nolan needs us. You know he's only here because he has to be," Camilla says grimly, reminding both Isaac and herself of Nolan's difficult situation.

Camilla's mind instantly floats back to the previous night when Nolan had arrived…

_Isaac and Camilla are cuddling on the couch when a loud and desperate knock is heard by the two._

" _If this is more fucking werewolf shit I'm going to stab whatever wolf is outside your door," Camilla groans, angered by the interruption._

_Isaac kisses the top of her head before removing himself from the couch._

" _Babe, I think you've done enough stabbing of werewolves for a while, okay?"_

_Rolling her eyes, the brunette replies, "Yeah yeah yeah."_

_Isaac uses his extra senses to scan for any supernatural beings, but feels nothing unusual. Several more knocks come from the visitor on the other side of the door before Isaac pulls it open, revealing a disheveled-looking Nolan in a rumpled black t-shirt and stained jeans, which was far from the Nolan Isaac knew._

" _Hey, pal. So here's the sitch," Nolan begins, leaning against the doorjamb, "my dad and I got into a huge fight over my dead mother and he gave up no information as to why the former Kelly Hayes is now a deflated body. So I left and yadda yadda yadda, leaving me no place to stay and so I guess I was hoping you would let me crash here until I figure out something better…"_

" _Yes you can stay but shut up and get inside because I'm missing some prime time cuddling with my boyfriend," Camilla answers before Isaac can speak, walking up behind her boyfriend, a purple blanket wrapped around her curvy frame._

" _God, it's good to see you, Camilla. I honestly do appreciate your brutality, it is actually a fresh breath of air," Nolan says with a small smile, stepping over the threshold with a duffel bag and a stack of books in his hands._

" _Get in here, old sport," Camilla says softly, wrapping her arm around her friend's shoulders and squeezing._

" _And when did you turn into Jay Gatsby?" Nolan chuckles, depositing his belongings into Isaac's outstretched arms._

" _I'll put these in the spare bedroom," Isaac says, and is off without another word._

" _So, I'm just going to wash up and get to bed," Nolan informs his friend. "I don't want to interrupt your cuddle sesh, just keep it PG for my sake."_

" _Make it PG-13 and we've got a deal," Camilla replies._

_Nolan nods and laughs, "Thanks for letting me stay."_

" _Thank Isaac, it's his place," Camilla shrugs, returning to the couch and flipping through channels on the TV._

Returning to the present, Camilla slides her shirt on and moans.

"I love him and feel terrible for his situation, but I don't know how long I can remain celibate," she reveals.

Isaac kisses her shoulder and then up her neck. Moving toward her ear, he whispers, "Maybe we can just be really quiet."

Relaxing into Isaac, Camilla smiles and closes her eyes.

"I like the sound of that… Or rather, lack thereof."

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Fitz crosses his arms across his chest and huffs. His face is pinched and he continues to talk without stopping to take a breath. The image of the boy scares Jackson, he'd never seen Fitz angry before and right now he was wondering if the Brit was going to try and kill him.

"Honestly," Fitz says, "it's outrageous! You and your friends are all so tight lipped and close about everything. It's like you've got some huge secret to keep. And they're all so bloody rude to me; especially that little twit, Camilla."

"Camilla was on drugs," Jackson says, "she was in the hospital and was doped up."

"It doesn't matter. She's not the only one, that Stilinski boy is such a sarcastic little arse and I just frankly don't understand why. I haven't done anything to deserve the treatment they give me."

"I don't know what to tell you."

"Of course you don't know what to tell me. You never say anything, they repeatedly tear down me and our relationship and you just let it happen. Have you ever tried defending my honor to those bloody knobs?"

Jackson rolls his eyes, "It's never occurred to me, Fitz, if you want me to be totally honest."

"Oh right, and why should it? I'm just your boyfriend."

"Actually, ya know what, I don't think you are. Not anymore. I like to make it a habit to cut out the dead weight in my life as often as possible – and right now, you're just about the deadest."

"Oh... oh you're ending this?"

"That's what it looks like."

Fitz laughs, "Oh you plain ninny! Oh for the love of god, I mean… I moved across the pond to be with you for what? For you to dump me for some little coffee boy?"

"This has nothing to do with Nolan," Jackson states, "this has to do with the fact that you're insane, Fitz. You're crazy. I mean you just showed up in America with no warning and wanted to pick things up right where they left off."

"And we did!"

"No, Fitz, no we didn't because everything was different when you came back into my life. The reason I jumped back into things with you was because after my friend died I wanted to try and get back to normal and as far as I could comprehend you were normal!"

Fitz shakes his head, "You're a fool."

"And you're a pompous asshole," Jackson snaps, "I think you ought to call your parents and let them know you're coming home. Hopefully they haven't started any paperwork for you to enroll at Beacon Hills High."

The British boy clenches his jaw and turns on his heel to leave the bedroom, but stops when he reaches the door to say, "You'll rue this day, Jackson Whittemore."

Jackson doesn't even acknowledge the threat and walks over to his desk and gets on his MacBook Air. Fitz huffs loudly and continues out of the room, storming down the hallway and then out of the house. Parked on the street the boy sees his rental car and knows where he has to go before he gets to the hotel to collect his things to leave town.

He has to go to the JavaPit to pay a visit to his dear friend, Nolan Hayes.

\-------

Melissa pushes a wheelchair across the hospital's shiny floor, her steps quick.

"Really, Melissa, I'm fine. I just need some bandaging and I'll be good to go," says the wheelchair's patron, begging Melissa to once again let them out of the wheelchair.

"Danny, no. You have a head injury, we're going to check it out. I can't let you leave without doing my job."

Sighing, Danny resigns and sits back into his chair. Time goes by, tests are done, and soon the boy is resting in a bed, an IV connected to his arm.

Melissa exits the room having checked on him for probably the millionth time and returns to her station. She bites the inside of her cheek and paces the floor, her hands in her scrub pockets.

"How's the kid doing?" April Avery asks, walking up to where Melissa paces frantically.

"Oh, he'll be fine. It's just his friends, my son included, are supposed to be here and to make him feel better. And no one has shown up yet."

"They'll get here, just relax a little. He'll be fine, so you should be happy. I'm sure he's not too worried about his friends' lack of punctuality," April reassures the brunette.

"You're right, I guess it's just not a normal day if I don't have something to worry about," Melissa sighs, turning to busy herself with paperwork.

"But that's why I love you," April jokes, grabbing a patient's chart and leaving to do her job.

Within minutes, Melissa's heart lights up when she sees Scott, Stiles, Jackson, Erica, and Lydia walking over to her with balloons and flowers.

"Sorry, Mom. We had to get balloons and stuff. How is he? Does it know he was attacked by a—"

"A werewolf?" she finishes for him. "No, thankfully. The twins did a good job of making it look like a human attacked him. And from what he says he remembers, there were no fangs or claws, so I think we're in the clear."

Scott sighs a breath of relief, "Good. Well, we'd better go in. What room is he in?"

After being directed into Danny's room, the group says their hello's and makes sure their friend is okay.

"I just don't get why they hurt you," Stiles confesses. "I thought you and Ethan were still friends?"

"We are, we were. I don't know either, it really surprised me," Danny says, as dumbfounded as them all. "Maybe it's just the werewolf part of them that made them not think clearly."

With the last sentence, the group stares at Danny with wide eyes and mouths hanging open. Never did they think their friend knew a thing about the supernatural.

"Danny, I don't know what you think happened, but—" Scott begins, stammering.

"Relax, guys. I'm not as oblivious as I look. I know that there's things out there that aren't human, and I happen to be friends with quite a bit of them. It's cool, I've gotten over the whole 'Holy shit, holy shit, werewolves are real' thing," Danny informs them nonchalantly, taking a bite of some of the hospital's jell-o.

Shocked and unable to speak, the group doesn't respond until Erica breaks it a minute later.

"So, you got any questions or anything?" she asks, getting over the fact that now another person knows about the supernatural.

"Really, Erica? Going right into the question thing?" Stiles asks, one of his eyes twitching a bit.

"She's right, Stiles. He knows now, so why not help him understand it more?" Lydia responds. "I know if I were in his position I would've wanted answers right when I found out."

"Yeah, I agree. Whaddaya wanna know, Danny?" Jackson asks, leaning against the boy's bed, ready for anything he might ask.

Before the round of questioning can start, however, Melissa interrupts, and with her is Officer Ben Hunt.

"Sorry to interrupt guys, but I need to question Mr. Mahealani alone," Ben addresses the group, keeping his eyes glued to Erica.

"Sure thing officer," Scott smiles awkwardly, wondering what Danny was going to tell the policeman.

Before Erica can exit the room, Ben grabs her arm gently and whispers, "I'll find you when I'm done here."

Nodding ever so slightly, the blonde leaves, excited to meet up with Ben.

"Well, I for one hate hospitals, so I'm going to grab some coffee from where Nolan works," Lydia tells everyone, shrugging her teal purse onto her shoulder.

"I'll join you," Stiles adds, awkwardly raising and lowering his hand in the spirit of volunteering.

"Okay, let's go," Lydia says quickly, moving fast and not waiting for Stiles to catch up.

"I think I'm gonna stay, Danny should be getting out soon and I want to be there to help," Jackson tells the other two.

"Same here," Scott agrees.  
"Well I'm not that close with Danny, and someone needs to tell Derek what happened, so I think I'll head home. See you guys." Erica waves goodbye and gets onto the elevator, unsure of what to do about Ben.

The doors begin to shut, but before they close completely, a hand appears and they open once again. The owner of the hand no other than Ben.

"Leaving without saying goodbye?" he asks huffily, obviously having hurried to catch the elevator.

"Sorry, I just didn't know how long it would take… and hospitals creep me out…"

"It's okay, I know what you mean," Ben says with a smile.

"Your questioning was quick, did he not have much to say?"

Ben shrugs, "I'm not technically supposed to discuss it with you, but to me it just seems like a case of a jealous ex-boyfriend and his brother taking revenge."

Erica relaxes a bit, glad that there was no suspicion of werewolves or anything of that sort.

"But enough about that, what have you been up to? Stopping with the excessive speeding, I hope."

Erica laughs, "I've brought it down to about 10 over, so no worries. I've got a bachelorette party to go to tonight. My friend's dad's fiancé invited us all. It should be… interesting to say the least."

"I've been to a few bachelor parties… They're pretty fun if you're with the right group. And if you're friends with people half as cool as you, you'll have a hell of a time."

Blushing, Erica fixes her eyes on the floor, noticing the ugly pattern of purple and brown.

"Sorry," Ben laughs awkwardly. "That sounded kind of lame."

"No. I liked it. I don't get complimented that often so it's nice to hear," Erica assures him.

Just then, the elevator doors ding open and patrons outside wait for the two to exit so they can get in.

The two step out and make their way to the front doors, no words spoken. When they reach outside they both realize they have to go separate ways.

"Well, it was nice seeing you again, Erica," Ben says, his eyes lingering on her.

"You too, Ben."

"I'll see you around, I guess," he tells her with a wave, turning to walk towards his patrol car.

Erica, too, turns and walks to her own car.

"Why oh why do I do this to myself?" she groans, slamming her door after getting inside.

\-------

Stiles and Lydia sit in the coffee shop not speaking. They're staring at each other and smiling awkwardly at intervals, but neither teen dares to speak first. Lydia thrums her manicured nails on the round table and nods along to the song playing over the speakers.

"I've got a Caramel Mocha Cooler for Lydia," Nolan says, setting the drink down in front of the girl, "and lemon poppy bread for Stiles."

"Thanks," Stiles and Lydia say in unison. The pair lock eyes, chuckle, and then look away.

Nolan's brows draw together as he stares at his friends, "You guys are being weird."

"We're not being weird," Stiles retorts, "you're weird."

"Fair enough… hey, Stiles could I ask you for a favor?" the coffee boy asks.

The dark haired boy nods, "Yeah, hit me man."

"Well, I've been trying to figure out what sort of… supernatural my mother was. I've done some research and I've been coming up blank, which is really sort of putting a kink in figuring everything out. So, I was wondering if you'd…"

"…Help you get some answers?"

"I wouldn't ask if this weren't important. Whatever my mom was I am too and with my dad out of the state I've really hit a wall. Not that my dad was telling me anything when he was here, but still. I need all the help I can get."

"Sure, I'll help you out," Stiles says with a smile, "just come to my place tonight when you get off work and we'll get to the bottom of it."

Nolan smiles back, "Thank you, Stiles. You guys enjoy your stuff, if you need anything else let me know."

The employee walks away from the table, leading Lydia and Stiles back into silence. The torment of not speaking begins to become too much for Lydia after a minute or two and she's the one to cave and talk first.

"This is ridiculous," she says, "we're friends. We've always been friends, more or less, but we're acting like strangers right now. Big, weird, awkward strangers and I hate it, Stiles. So let's just deal with this, okay?"

"There's something to deal with?" the boy asks.

Lydia rolls her eyes, "Stiles, we kissed. It was a good kiss, maybe even the best kiss. We professed our love for each other… we need to discuss what this all means."

"What do you want it to mean?"

"I… I don't know. I love you, Stiles. I really do, but I'm not sure that I'm ready to be in a relationship. My last real relationship was with Jackson and that ended up with him dying, coming back to life, moving to London, and coming back gay."

Stiles cracks a smile, "I'm not gay… I don't think anyway, I mean I can appreciate a dude but I don't wanna sleep with them. Like Derek's a hot guy, but I don't… and Scott's good looking, if his jaw was a little less crooked I'd be willing to… ya know what that's like irrelevant. Here's the thing, I love you and I wanna be with you."

"Your apparent homo-erotic thoughts about Derek and your best friend aside; I'm really not sure if I'm capable of being with someone so intimately and completely again."

Stiles reaches across the table and grabs Lydia's hand in his, "Look, I'm not saying we have to go rushing down the aisle tomorrow and have three kids, a dog, and a house with a white picket fence by next Tuesday. All I'm asking for is a chance, I'm asking to go on dates and kiss – kiss a lot – and hold hands at the mall. That's it. Can I at least have a chance?"

Lydia looks down at their touching hands and smiles, liking how Stiles' hand feels on her's, "Yeah. Yeah, Stiles I can give you a chance."

"W-wow that actually worked? Awesome, uh, okay, well then I'm paying for your coffee."

"Why?"

Stiles smirks, "This is our first date and as a gentlemen, I'm paying."

Lydia blushes and takes a sip of her coffee, giggling at the situation. It's in that instant that the door to the JavaPit slams open, nearly taking the bell above it off its hook and in storms Fitz, his face red with rage. He shoves a girl out of his way, causing her to nearly drop her coffee, and then makes his way to the front counter.

"Where is he?" shouts the Englishman.

Behind the counter one of the workers, Ellis, eyes Fitz up and down and coldly asks, "Where is he who?"

"Nolan Hayes!"

From the sea of tables, Nolan looks over to the counter and sees Fitz standing in a rage. The boy feels his heart begin to pound in his chest as he makes his way over to the antagonistic British boy. When he finally reaches the counter he taps Fitz on the shoulder and smiles at him.

"Hey, Fitz, what's going on?" Nolan asks cautiously.

"You," Fitz spits, "you little Nancy-Boy! I hope you're satisfied that you successfully ruined Jackson and I's relationship! We're over because of you!"

"Me? What the hell did I do?"

"Oh just about every damn thing you could. It's absolute rubbish that he should pick you – a poor, small-town, idiotic, coffee boy – over  _me_!"

Nolan stands taken aback with a scowl on his face, "Fuck you, dude."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. I said fuck you, you're being a dick. If Jackson broke up with you it's because you're a pompous asshole who thinks he's better than everyone, when really all you are is a tiny little man-boy with a cob up his ass the size of the Queen's thrown," Nolan retorts. "Seriously, Fitz you're such a lunatic I'm surprised it took Jackson this long to realize it."

"How dare you," Fitz drawls.

"How dare I? How dare you? You come into a public coffee shop and make a huge scene over a boy.  _A boy_. You look like such a pathetic idiot. I mean really, my life isn't exactly a cakewalk right now, but at least I'm mature enough to keep my act together."

"Oh my lord, I'll be so glad to get back to the motherland tomorrow!" Fitz shouts as he grabs a cup of coffee off the counter and takes a sip. Instantly he spits it out, "Oi! This tea is cold and tastes like plain rubbish!"

Nolan rolls his eyes, "That's because it's iced coffee, you moron!"

Fitz groans loudly and then begins to walk out of the shop, the coffee still in his hand he pours the contents of the cup out onto the floor. When he gets to the door he stops and gives the patron of JavaPit the finger, "Goodbye, England rejects!"

"Yeah, enjoy Hogwarts, Fitz," Nolan says, rolling his eyes again.

With those words the Brit exits the shop and the customers begin to clap, most of them laughing as well. Nolan looks around at the patrons and feels his face turn red, Lydia whistles from the table she's at and Stiles hollers, "Go Nolan!"

The boy laughs and does a little bow before turning back to Ellis at the counter. She smiles at him and gives him the thumbs up.

"Table three wants a medium Dark Chocolate Cooler," he says to his co-worker.

"Coming right up, champ," the girl says with a wink.

In that moment, all Nolan can do is laugh.

\-------

Even though it's the middle of summer, Scott can't help but shiver as he walks among the rows of headstones in the Beacon Hills Cemetery. He walks past so many familiar names – Claudia Stilinski, Isobel and Diego Reyes, a large marble headstone that simply read HALE. As he goes deeper into the cemetery he sees the headstone he was looking for.

On the right side of a headstone that reads "Gerard Argent: Father, Grandfather, Teacher" is a tall headstone that says a name Scott has just recently been able to say himself.

"Allison Rebecca Argent," says a deep, masculine voice from behind Scott, "Beloved daughter and friend. March 17th 1995 to November 19th 2013."

Scott turns around to see Chris Argent walking toward him. The hunter's face is stony and looks almost completely void of feeling. He walks over to the headstone and stares at it for a moment before pointing to the one directly to the left of Gerard's, "Of all the hunters I've ever known, I certainly never thought my wife would die because of the job."

"I… I'm sorry, Mr. Argent," Scott mumbles as he looks down and focuses on a blade of grass that's slightly longer than the rest.

The man laughs, "I think after everything it's appropriate that you just call me Chris."

"Either way, I'm sorry for… for all your losses."

"As a parent, you never think you'll out live your child. Even in this line of work – fighting werewolves day in and day out – you never fully believe that your child might be at danger. Especially Allison, she was always so full of light and happiness. Even in the face of peril, she had an optimism that was astounding."

"No kidding," Scott chuckles, "she was always pretty confident when it came to hunting."

"She was a natural," Chris adds, "it's not too often that a new hunter can take the reins of an operation and run with it perfectly like Allison did. Not to mention she was a true marksman, she could use that bow and arrow better than anyone I've ever seen."

"I miss her," Scott says suddenly, "my mom told me that it would come in waves. But it isn't waves. It's all the time, I'm constantly missing her. I hate not seeing her every day, I hate having to deal with all this supernatural madness without her."

Chris turns around now and smiles at the werewolf, "I miss her too. I'd give my own life if it meant she would be alive again."

Scott fights back the sting of tears and a thought flashes through his mind, however he is quick to push it away. It's an insane thought and clearly only came to air because of his grief… so why does it seem like such a beautifully logical plan?

"We better cut it out with the sorrow," Scott says with a forced chuckle, "that bachelor party won't be much fun if we don't."

\-------

"Susan, you look better in that dress than I ever would and for that, I envy you," Lydia says truthfully to the red-head.

"Oh, Lydia, you're too kind. Is that the champagne talking?" Susan says playfully, noting the champagne that came with the limo ride.

The girls were together for the bachelorette party, and that included a limo ride to wherever they wanted to go. Plus free champagne that Susan was letting the underage girls consume.

"Of course not!" Lydia reassures the woman, placing her hand on her chest as if to signify that the notion was ridiculous.

Susan smiles, satisfied, and takes a sip from her flute.

"Tonight is going to be fun, ladies," Piper, Susan's friend, coos.

"Absolutely!" Georgie asserts. "Susan, did you get the…?"

"Of course I did!" the bride-to-be answers.

"Get the what?" Camilla asks, wondering what crazy thing Susan had picked up for the night, assuming it was another penis-covered article. Susan was already wearing a sash declaring her bride-to-be status, a crown with penises, a necklace with a penis, a garter with a penis, and lastly, a small purse shaped as a penis. Camilla truly wondered where the last item was found.

Rummaging through her genitalia-shaped bag, Susan winks at Camilla before producing three cards.

Turning the cards to show what they were, Camilla, Erica, and Lydia spot their own faces.

"Are these fake ID's?" Erica exclaims, her eyes widening.

Susan nods and laughs.

"We thought it would be fun for you guys to be able to have fun with us!" Georgie reveals. "We know a guy who does them for cheap. And since we have a driver all night, no one has to be responsible!"

"I cannot believe this, this is the best gift ever," Camilla says, taking the ID from Susan as she handed it to her.

"Just don't tell your father! He would throw a fit!" Susan tells the group.

"My lips are sealed. But not for long because mama's gonna get herself a shot!" Camilla cheers, thrusting her fake ID into the air with pride.

The ladies cheer with her, and a few take more sips of champagne.

"Tonight is going to be a blast!" Piper squeals right as they pull up to their first destination, a club named Poizon.

Each lady steps out of the limo, with help from the driver. They are let in right away, and the fake ID's prove worthy.

Erica heads right up to the bar and calls over the bartender, a young, tattooed woman with jet black hair and several facial piercings.

"Let me get a round of vodka for this lovely group here," Erica says sweetly, gesturing towards everyone.

The bartender notices Susan's get-up and asks, "Bachelorette party?"

"Yes indeed," Erica smiles. Soon the shots are poured and the ladies toast to their fun night. Their scowls are evident after tossing back the hard liquor, but no one cares.

"Woo! I'm getting married!" Susan cheers, eliciting more cheers from the girls as well as random club patrons.

A man with well-defined muscles and a bit too much cologne walks up to Susan and offers his hand out.

"Can I ask the bride-to-be to dance before she is officially off the market?" he asks, waggling his eyebrows.

"Hell yes!" Susan replies, grabbing his hand and following him onto the dance floor.

Camilla laughs as she watches Susan sway her hips and shake her arms.

"I'm heading to the bar, anyone wanna come?" Erica yells over the music.

Camilla raises her hand and the two walk over.

Camilla orders an Amaretto Sour and Erica gets another shot of vodka.

"It does the trick," Erica shrugs before tossing back the clear liquid. Camilla shakes her head and sips on her drink.

The two return to the table, where only Lydia sits, fixing her hair before turning to Camilla and Erica.

"Georgie and Piper went to go dance, I say we go too," she suggests, her eyes alight with happiness, and perhaps a little buzz from alcohol.

Their prayers are answered when three gorgeous men walk up to them and ask them all to dance.

Obliging, the girls stand up from their booth and make their way out onto the hardwood dance floor, ready to begin the night.

\-------

Stiles' fingers dance over the keyboard of his MacBook making a distinct and almost comforting sound. The printer beside him prints another page and floats to the floor to lay among the other thirty some pages that had also been printed. As Stiles continues to work, he doesn't even notice when Nolan enters until her hears the boy drop a backpack to the floor.

"Sorry it took me so long," Nolan says as he walks over to the boy, "but I went home and showered before I came over. There was an incident at JavaPit that resulted in me getting coffee grounds in my hair thanks to Owen not putting the lid on the blender."

Stiles chuckles and turns around to see the boy, "It's fine. Uh, nice shirt, what's with the Dartmouth?"

Nolan looks down to examine his gray long sleeved shirt with green lettering on it and shrugs, "I don't know, I've wanted to go to Dartmouth for a long time and one year for my birthday my dad bought me the shirt."

"Oh, when's your birthday?"

"November 16th," Nolan answers with a small smile.

"Hey, that's Camilla's birthday too!"

"Yeah it is, but she can have it. I don't really celebrate my birthday, so… the sixteenth is all hers."

"Why don't you celebrate it?"

"My big sister died on that day, so I just assume forget the date altogether," Nolan replies quietly, "have you found anything?"

In shock from Nolan's confession, Stiles shakes his head and replies, "I've found some stuff that's sort of hit and miss. I mean, there is a legend about a Skin-Walker that leaves the skin of the person its shifted into behind when it's done with that shift."

"Does it say anything about bleeding black ash?"

"No, and from what I've read to shapeshift the Skin-Walkers don't have to… um… they don't really need to…"

"…To kill themselves?" Nolan asks.

"Yeah, they just sorta change," Stiles answers, "hey, I haven't really had a chance to say I'm sorry about your mom. I'm sure she was a really wonderful woman."

"I, uh, I don't really remember her all that much."

"What do you mean?"

"Right after my sister died, back when I was eight, my mom had a mental breakdown and had to be committed. We actually moved to Beacon Hills because Eichen House was one of the only other mental institutions that was able to care for her properly," Nolan answers, "so from the time I was eight until just a few weeks ago, my mom was just sort of a picture on the wall."

"Damn. I'm so sorry, Nolan."

"She poured my cereal for me," Nolan says with a smile, "every morning for breakfast she would pour my cereal for me. That's really the memory that sticks out."

Stiles smiles too, "My mom died right after I turned seven, so I don't have too many memories either. But what I do remember is that she would always tell me these insane stories and believed me about everything I said. If I came into her room in the middle of the night and told her someone was breaking in, she'd be downstairs with a baseball bat in seconds."

"I'm sorry about your mom too. Do you mind me asking what happened to her?"

"She had frontotemporal dementia and got really sick and just died," Stiles answers stoically.

Nolan shakes his head, "God, that's terrible. Both my grandparents got dementia before they passed away and it was so sad. I'm really sorry about that, Stiles."

"I saw my mom die too," Stiles adds, "yeah, I was seven, but I still remember it. It was awful."

A chill runs down Nolan's spine, "I can't get her screams out of my head. And the things she was saying before she slit her wrists… she told me someone was coming for me, that they wanted to hurt me like they hurt my sister."

"Someone hurt your sister?"

"Not as far as I know. Until recently I was told she had died from a drunk driver t-boning her."

"But that's not the case?"

"No, not according to my mom. I guess, if my mom was a supernatural being and it was passed down to my sister and me then some sort of hunters are the ones who killed her and they just covered it up to make it look like an accident. That's a terrible, awful thought to have I know, but… it might be the truth."

Stiles shakes his head sadly, "I really hope not. We'll get to the bottom of this, Nolan. I swear."

\-------

As Isaac enters Camilla and Ron's house, he truly isn't sure what he had expected to see. Obviously all of Ron's friends were there, but for some reason he expected them all to be a lot more intimidating than they were.

"Thank god you're here," Scott says as he rushes up to his fellow werewolf, "this party is full of hunters and it's really uncomfortable."

"All these guys are hunters?" Isaac asks as he scans the room, seeing at least ten men spread about.

"All but two of them, but they know about werewolves," Scott answers. "Seriously, I reached for some spinach dip and that big balding guy over there almost took my hand off. It wasn't very smart of Ron to tell all these dudes two teen werewolves were coming."

"Yeah, that was some poor judgment on his part."

"Well, well, well," Graham says as he walks up to Isaac, "if it isn't Camilla's favorite play thing!"

"I'm a little more than a play thing," Isaac retorts, "actually, I'm pretty sure the play thing would be you. Camilla only ever really has an interest in you when you're playing."

"Training," Graham corrects.

"Either way, I'm the one who gets to see her naked," Isaac smirks, pushing past the hunter and Camilla's ex to move into the swing of the party. Instinctively, Isaac goes up to Ron and shakes his hand, congratulating the man of his impending nuptials.

With a smile Ron says, "Thanks, Isaac. Hey, um, heads up all these guys know you're a…"

"They all know I'm a Sagittarius?"

Ron chuckles, "Werewolf, actually."

"Is this him?" asks the balding man Scott had pointed out before as he comes up to Isaac and Ron. He smells of scotch and cigars and has a truly menacing look on his face, like he's just waiting for a fight to break out.

Isaac swallows his fear and puts a hand out, "Isaac Lahey, sir. You are?"

The man glances at Isaac's outstretched hand and reluctantly shakes it, "Frank Archer, I'm Graham's dad."

"Nice to meet you…" Isaac trails.

"You're the one who's dating Camilla now, huh? She's a good girl… a very good girl, I'd really hate to think of her being mixed up with the wrongs types of people. Do you get what I'm saying here, son?"

"I think I do," Isaac says, "but I have to admit I think you're underestimating Camilla. She really sort of just does what she wants, no one can control her. She makes her own decisions."

"Just like Allison," Chris says as he comes up from behind Frank, wrapping his arm around his fellow hunter, "and that worked out great."

"How many drinks you had, Argent?" Frank asks.

"Yeah Chris," Ron adds, "maybe you should cool it."

"Ah, shut the hell up. I'm fine, it's not my fault you pussies can't keep up with me."

Isaac cracks a smile at the man's comment.

"I think you're drunk," Frank says, "if memory serves you're not really a man who can hold his liquor. You oughta listen to your big brother on this one, Chris."

Chris rolls his eyes, "Now way. My big brother is a little bitch – no offense, Ronny – and besides I'm just trying to have a good time at my bro's bachelor party. I don't need any advice from you two… I didn't have your advice when I snagged Leilani."

"Leilani?" Isaac asks.

"She's my girlfriend," Chris tells the boy, "she's hot as hell and has a pussy like magic."

"Oh… wow…" Isaac mutters, shocked at the older man's words.

"Who woulda thought that in Hawaii I'd be able to find a sexy ass hunter with a knack for sex like that. Her mouth is… god you gotta have her, well, ya know."

"I'm just gonna walk away from this," Isaac says, turning on his heel to find Scott.

"Solid plan," Ron says, "thanks for coming Isaac. Chris, why don't we go and get you some coffee or something? Sober you up a little bit?"

"Yeah, alright. But I gotta tell you about the flight home – let's just say that thanks to Leilani, I'm a proud member of the Mile High Club."

"Jesus Christ," Frank sighs as he helps Ron take Chris to the kitchen.

\-------

Stumbling in to Joe's Jazz Bar, the bachelorette party instantly ignites the fire in the bar with their cheers and happiness, putting everyone in a better partying mood.

Recognizing one of his finer performers, Joe, the owner, walks over to the ladies and welcomes them.

"Ladies, thanks for making Joe's one of your stops! Camilla, always a pleasure to see you. Are you singing for us tonight?"

"Camilla," Susan slurs, "you have to sing. For me. Because you are so pretty and your voice is so pretty. You just have to!"

"Yeah sing! Pleeease!" Georgie begs. The rest of the group follows suit.

Camilla looks into Joe's pleading eyes, her vision blurring a bit, and smiles.

"Hell yeah!"

The ladies cheer and Joe smiles back.

"Fantastic! How about a few rounds on the house?" he asks, eliciting more cheers from the ladies.

Drinks are poured, laughs are laughed, and dances are danced. The time ticks by and eventually it's Camilla's turn to go up and sing.

Barely sober enough, she walks carefully up the steps of the stage and heads right to the microphone.

"How's everyone doing tonight?"

The crowd cheers, her friends more loudly than the rest.

"I know most of you are used to a more chilled environment here at Joe's, but tonight is Susan's night, and Susan likes it loud."

Susan cheers loudly, proving Camilla to be correct.

The brunette laughs and continues.

"But right now, I'm going to slow it down just a bit and sing a song I know Susan loves…"

Camilla winks at the man controlling the music and sound fills everyone's ears, playing out the opening notes to the song Sway.

Instantly recognizing the song, Susan places her hand over her heart and says, "Oh my goodness. I love this song, I do!"

Camilla smiles and sings, putting her soul into the song and feeling it flow through her. She is being carried away by the feelings when suddenly her heart stops. She nearly messes up on the song, but corrects herself, not wanting anyone to know she was distraught.

Her eyes once again meet with those of the Alpha Jessica, who smiles and sips a drink slowly.

Focused to finish out the song Camilla turns away and tries to ignore the Alpha, but her eyes keep returning to the werewolf's own.

Finally, she finishes, and watches as Jessica stands, clapping as she walks toward the stage, disappearing down the hallway next to it.

Camilla knows what she is doing, knowing the only exit from the hallway was either the bathroom or backstage.

Bowing shortly at her enormous round of applause and cheers, Camilla smiles and hurries backstage.

The dark backroom is nearly empty except for Camilla's expected guest.

"You've got some talent, girl," Jessica says smoothly, her arms crossed.

"Singing isn't the only thing I'm good at. Need I remind you of the twins?" Camilla threatens, her eyes narrowed.

Jessica laughs coolly.

"Why are you here? Don't fuck around with me," Camilla demands, reaching under her dress and feeling the concealed knife she always carried.

"Oh, so you like to get right to the point, huh? I can respect that," Jessica says, her attention more focused now. "I'm here for revenge."

Without warning, the werewolf extracts her claws and rushes towards Camilla.

The brunette, however tipsy, is ready, her knife in hand.

Thankfully, loud music begins to play, probably something Susan picked out, covering up the sounds of the struggle.

Jessica attempts to slash at Camilla, but the girl ducks and swipes her knife, hitting her mark, but barely.

Angered, Jessica growls and goes right back in for an attack. Both women hit and get hit, the fight is pretty even.

At a stalemate, the two circle around each other, waiting for one to make a move.

"C'mon, little girl. Show me what you've got," Jessica growls.

"Oh I think you know, but if you need any reminders, just ask the twins. That is, if you make it out alive," Camilla spits back.

Growling again, Jessica is more angry than before.

"Threatening my life, now? I was just going to claw you up a bit and call it good… But now, no holds barred."

Instantly, she jumps forward, knocking Camilla to the ground. Her head hits hard, reawakening her concussion, but not enough to slow her down. Camilla slashes at Jessica before the werewolf knocks her knife from her hands.

"What now, Miss Badass? You have no weapons," Jessica says in fake sympathy.

"Oh don't be so sure," Camilla says, grinding her teeth.

The brunette somehow forces Jessica off of her, and rolls on top of the wolf instead. Using only her fists, Camilla repeatedly bludgeons the wolf, which is surprisingly effective.

Angered once more Jessica finds the strength to throw Camilla off and stand up. Camilla too gets on her feet, eyeing the knife that was between them. Jessica spots it too, and both rush for the weapon.

The two collide and are down on the floor again. They battle hard, but one is clearly doing better than the other, and soon the knife is retrieved. Without a warning, the weapon is plunged into a body repeatedly, ending life.

"Little girl," the victor mocks, spitting on the bloody body of the loser.

Back in the bar, Lydia and Erica notice that Camilla still hasn't returned.

"Maybe she's lost," Erica laughs.

"Maybe she's stuck in the toilet," Lydia suggests between peals of laughter.

"We should probably check on her though," Erica says as soberly as possible, trying to keep her head straight.

Lydia shakes her head messily, standing up and pulling down her tight purple dress.

"You check bathroom, I check back there," Lydia slurs.

Erica nods and makes her way, sloppily, to the restroom.

The strawberry-blonde widens her eyes when she reaches the steps, unsure if she was able to climb them effectively to get on the stage.

It takes a minute, but the girl is successful. She takes note of the stage and its red curtains before spotting the way backstage.

She slowly walks to the back, and her eyes take a while to adjust.

Before she can see clearly, she knows something was wrong, and it instantly sobers her up. A scream builds up in her throat as she feasts her eyes on blood, and lots of it.

She gazes around, full of terror, expecting to see a body, but she sees nothing. Confused, she gulps and turns to get Erica's help when she hears a door open.

Frozen, she stops and waits for whoever it is to either enter or go away.

"Holy shit," she hears Erica's voice say, and she instantly relaxes, rushing over to where her friend had entered from the hallway.

"Where's Camilla?" Erica asks, her voice full of confusion and fear.

"I-I don't know."

\-------


	19. Dead or Alive (4x07)

Stiles and Nolan sit on Stiles' bed with the laptop between them with  _Scream 4_  playing. Both boys chuckle as Kristen Bell slams a knife into Anna Paquin and tells her to shut up and watch the movie. One thing both boys enjoyed about the  _Scream_  franchise was the shock factor and the constant mocking of the horror genre in general.

"We should get back to work," Stiles says before stuffing his mouth full of popcorn.

"What's the point?" Nolan asks, "we've been trying to find answers all night and there's been nothing. It's 12:30… so we've been working for four and a half hours and we've got no information on my amazing deflato-mom."

"You just wanna quit?"

"No, but… maybe I don't wanna know what she was. Maybe not knowing is for the best."

Stiles chuckles, "Yeah that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

Just before Nolan can further his feelings, Stiles' phone rings. The boy pauses the movie and grabs his phone, seeing Lydia's name on the screen before he swipes his finger across the screen and places the blue phone to his ear with a smirk on his face.

"What's up?" he asks the girl on the other end of the phone.

Backstage at Joe's Jazz Bar Lydia peers around making sure no one is trying to get back to see the massive pool of blood that stains the worn floors, beside her Erica crouches down and gets some blood on her fingers, placing it to her nose hoping to get a scent.

"Stiles," Lydia says hushed, "something really bad happened at the Jazz Bar and someone… someone's dead and we can't find Camilla. None of us have seen her since she performed and the giant pool of blood doesn't make things look good one way or the other."

"Oh my god," Stile snaps, "okay, alright, Nolan and I are on our way."

"You should bring Scott. He'll want to know about this and he'll want to help find her."

"If she's alive," Erica adds as she comes up to Lydia, "tell them to hurry."

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

****

Susan wraps Ron's jacket around her shoulders tighter. The lack of sleep and the abundance of worry was evident in her face.

"So that's the last you saw of her? And you didn't hear anything strange or see anyone peculiar?" asked a police officer, switching his eyes from his pad of paper to Susan's face constantly.

Shaking her head, Susan replies, "No, I was a little too drunk to think that this… was even possible."

"Thank you, Miss. We're doing everything we can to find her," the officer offers, noting Susan's grim face, red from crying.

Susan nods, and watches as the officer makes his way over to one of the other bar patrons.

At five in the morning, Susan, as well as the police, were at Joe's Jazz Bar, all with the goal of finding Camilla.

Susan shudders, her thoughts consumed by the missing girl, and what could have possibly happened to her. All she knew was that there was blood, and lots of it, and no sign of the young hunter.

A tear rolls down Susan's cheek, one she doesn't bother wiping away. Suddenly, she is surrounded by a warm embrace and she relaxes once she recognizes the familiar scent of American Eagle cologne.

"Hey hon," Ron says softly, once they pull apart.

Susan smiles lightly, but the smile doesn't stay for long because soon the woman is sobbing and grasping on to her fiancé.

"Hey, hey. We're going to find her. It's okay. She's a tough girl," Ron soothes, barely believing his own words.

"I know she's tough, Ron. But I just feel so guilty. I should've been watching her. This wouldn't have happened if I wasn't so careless last night," Susan scolds herself, her chin trembling.

Ron takes Susan's face into his hands, making her look directly at him.

"Nobody knew this was going to happen. It was just supposed to be a nice night. It's not your fault for enjoying it. Everyone else was too. This just happened. All we can do now is find out where my baby girl is. But we need to be strong. Can you do that? For Camilla?"

Looking at Ron and swallowing hard, Susan nods.

"I would do anything for her."

"I know you would," Ron says sweetly. "And that's why I know we'll find her. Because she has a lot of people that care about her."

Susan nods, starting to feel a bit more courage.

Elsewhere in the bar, Sheriff Stilinski paces the floor, an unsipped coffee in his hand.

His attention is grabbed, however, when he hears a protest from the front doors.

"My dad said it was fine. You know, the Sheriff? Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's your boss. Camilla was my friend. Our friend," he hears a familiar voice say. He looks up to see his son standing in the doorway with Scott and Isaac. A flustered officer looks over at the sheriff, unsure of what to do.

The man rolls his eyes and waves the kids over. When they reach him, they instantly flood him with questions.

Taking a sip of the bitter coffee, the sheriff answers them grimly.

"There's no news. No one saw anything, no one heard anything. The owner is being questioned about the people, but I' haven't been updated yet."

Pain seems to fill Isaac's features and he turns away, exasperated. The boy moves over to where Ron and Susan stand.

"Dad, couldn't you, I don't know, make it seem more hopeful when speaking to Camilla's angry werewolf boyfriend?" Stiles says quietly.

"I'm not worried about Isaac, I'm focused on finding your friend."

Before anything else is said on that matter, Scott chimes in.

"So what now? Are you going to look for her? Do they know if it's her blood or not?"

The sheriff shakes his head and shrugs his shoulders.

"It's being tested. But I can't really call in a search team when no one knows what happened. I wouldn't even know where to start looking."

Not saying another word, the boys quietly accept the current situation as the sheriff is called over to talk to someone. Looking around the room, Scott takes note of the owner, Joe, who was currently working with the sketch artist.

Nudging Stiles, Scott says, "Hey, do you think he saw something? He's talking to the sketch artist?"

Locking his eyes on the two men, Stiles slyly makes his way over to where they sit in order to get a glance of the sketch.

Scott watches him and sees his eyes go wide. Stiles instantly turns back to Scott and hurries over.

"Well it's definitely not a human that went after Camilla. That drawing looks eerily similar to your favorite female Alpha."

"Jessica?" Scott says as quietly as he can manage.

Stiles nods, "Do you think she's the one who went after her? First the twins attack Danny, now Jessica attacks Camilla? It seems possible to me. We know they're out for our blood and it doesn't help that Camilla kicked the twins' asses."

Scott takes in the information and draws conclusions. He searches the bar for Isaac, spotting his black t-shirt near the stage.

The two boys walk up to him and share the news.

"Well we should probably tell your dad, so he knows to keep the humans out of it and to let the werewolves take it on," Isaac answers, his jaw flexing.

Stiles agrees and finds his dad on the phone with the lab.

When his father hangs up the phone, Stiles waits for the information, his hands in his pockets and his eyes wide.

"There are two different people's blood back there. One was identified as Camilla's and the other hasn't been identified," he says in a sad voice.

"Well I can almost guarantee that the blood is one of the Alpha's. I was just looking at the sketch from Joe, and it was Jessica, who is Deucalion's right hand… woman, I guess. I bet you she's the one responsible."

Sighing loudly, the sheriff takes his son aside.

"So the Alphas are a problem again?" he asks, the anger evident.

Stiles nods, "And they definitely have something against Camilla."

"Just wonderful," the sheriff retorts. The two are interrupted however when Ben walks up to them, the finished sketch in his hand.

"Here's the primary suspect," Ben reveals, handing the paper to the sheriff. "Joe says she was the only one he had never seen before, and he didn't see her after Camilla disappeared. I was just about to take it down to the station and make copies."

The sheriff, knowing very well that it wasn't a good idea to get too many humans involved, ripped up the paper.

"That's not necessary. Stiles identified the woman."

Ben's face showed the utmost surprise, and he stutters in his response.

"Um, so, uh, should I have the guys back at the station to pull up her information? Should we go after her?"

"She won't be in the system. She's new to Beacon Hills."

Stammering, Ben speaks, "I-I'm sorry sir, I just don't understand what you mean to do now? Are we not going to go after her?"

"Officer Hunt, I'll take these matters in to my own hands. I want you to clear the bar. Whatever reports were taken I want sent to me immediately. The rest of you can get back to what you were doing before until I have something more for you to do regarding this case."

The sheriff begins to walk away, but Ben pulls him back.

"But, sheriff, won't you need more than one man? And why are you not alerting the town? This woman is obviously dangerous, shouldn't we at least to something more than—"

"Officer, I gave you orders, now follow them. I'm handling this. If I need help, I'll ask."

Leaving Ben stunned and confused, Stiles and his dad walk over to Scott, who wasn't sure where Isaac was. The two relay the information to Scott and he takes it in.

"So what now? Do we just look for her?" he asks after hearing everything.

"I guess that's all we can do," Stiles shrugs. "We should tell Isaac."

Before any more moves are made, they hear the slamming of a door and turn just in time to see Isaac storming out of the bar.

"Better go check that out," Stiles says, instantly on his way with Scott.

When they get outside, they find Isaac in the alley next to the bar. The boy was partially turned and very angry.

"Woah, Isaac. Calm down," Stiles tells the wolf, holding his hands up and stepping closer.

"Calm down?" he roars, baring his teeth. "How in the fuck am I supposed to calm down when an officer just told me that it 'doesn't look too good'?"

"Hey, they don't know Camilla. They don't know how she can fight. We saw her take down two Alphas, we know she can fend for herself," Scott tries to soothe him.

"We don't know anything! I know you want to look on the bright side and think about how good of a fighter Camilla is, but Allison was a good fighter too, and look where she ended up!" Isaac says coldly.

"The owner of the bar identified Jessica as one of the suspects. So now we know who we're after, okay? I'll text Derek and have him go question Deucalion and the twins. And we can go look for them, okay?" Stiles offers.

Isaac, still breathing heavy, calms down a bit.

"We'll find her," Scott promises. "I know we will."

Isaac returns to his human form, but the sadness is evident on his face.

"I know we'll find her… but the question is will we find her dead or alive?"

\-------

Derek, Jackson, and Erica got out of their car and stared at the apartment building before them. What was once the home of Allison and Chris Argent was now nothing more than the place that the Alpha pack resided – right above where the Argents used to live no less.

The three werewolves walk up the steps of the building and into the lobby, walking straight to the shiny doors of the elevator. They enter quietly and Derek presses the button for the top floor, where the Alphas are, and waits for the doors to shut.

"What's the plan?" Erica asks staring at Derek's face in the reflective material of the doors.

"We go in, get them to tell us what that werebitch did with Camilla and if they don't we put away the nice words and start shredding shit," Jackson replies, "it's pretty straightforward. Should be easy for even you to execute."

"Oh, yeah," Erica agrees before she slaps Jackson upside the head, "Derek what's the actual plan?"

"Jackson just told you," the ex-Alpha replies flatly.

The three are silent for the rest of the elevator ride, Jackson rubbing the spot on his head Erica had just hit. The elevator moved up three more floors and then abruptly came to a halt when the doors slid open and they were greeted with the top floor. Still silent they stepped out and into the hallway, walking in a perfect unison toward the Alpha's door. Derek exchanges a glance with Jackson who nods his head as to say okay – he pointedly doesn't look at Erica though, evoking an eye roll from the blonde girl.

Derek knocks on the door and its only about three seconds before the door is pulled open, with Deucalion standing on the other side with an unbuttoned shirt on.

"If it isn't my favorite pack of misfit betas," Deucalion chuckles, "to what do I owe this displeasure?"

"Where's Camilla?" Derek asks, cutting right to the point.

"Camilla… Camilla…" the Alpha pretends to think, "not ringing any bells. Sorry I couldn't be of any help, if you choose to come again… well, don't. Not unless you've got Scott McCall and he's ready to join me."

As Deucalion goes to shut the door, Derek shoves his foot into the doorjamb and then smirks at the man before him, "Funnily enough, that's not really the answer we came here looking for."

"Now that blonde girl," Deucalion says slowly, ignoring Derek completely, "I'm fairly certain the late but great Kali killed her. How exactly is she back amongst the living? I know your Druid is powerful, but I've never known a Druid to raise the dead."

"Where's Camilla, killer," Erica snaps.

"Erica, enough," Derek snaps back.

"Since we're asking questions, perhaps you all could tell me where Jessica is," Deucalion asks, "last time I saw her she was awfully vengeful and bloodthirsty… something about taking care of the little hunter bitch that hurt the twins."

"More information that we already know," Jackson sighs.

"I'm sorry. You know, both Jessica and Ethan said they thought you were so goodlooking. Perhaps I ought to snatch you up and give them a little gift – Jessica deserves a gift for a job well done, I'm sure."

Erica growls.

"Mr. Hale, I do suggest you remove your foot before I remove it for you."

Sourly, Derek pulls his foot back.

"Have a pleasant rest of your day… and do give that Danny boy my best."

Jackson jumps to assault Deucalion, but the Alpha shuts the door quickly and Jackson's fist slam into the thick, wooden door – creating a slight split in the wood in the process. Angrily, the three wolves turn around and walk toward the elevator.

"Well that was a big fucking bust," Erica says, watching Jackson press the button to summon the elevator.

"That's enough, Erica," Derek snaps again, just as the door to the elevator opens allowing the man to walk in without one more word to either of his fellow betas.

\-------

Stiles shakes his leg nervously and grips his steering wheel tightly as he drives along a nearly deserted road. Next to him, Isaac stares out the window, looking for any sign of Camilla or Jessica while sniffing for his girlfriend's familiar scent.

The shaken-up werewolf absent-mindedly picks at the holes in his jeans, making the threads longer and the holes bigger.

Scott sits in the back, trying to pick up on her scent as well.

"I could smell her blood," Isaac says, breaking the silence. Turning to the boys, he elaborates. "When I was standing by the stage, I could smell it. I don't think I've ever smelled anything worse than that. Not that it was gross, but that I knew it was hers and that I don't know if she's okay."

Biting his lip, he turns back to look out the window.

Just then, Scott's phone rings, and a familiar strawberry blonde's photo ID pops up on his screen.

"Lydia, any news?" he asks, not bothering to greet her.

"Nothing here, just some old headstones and a feeling that someone is always staring at me," she responds. She and Nolan had taken to searching the cemetery, just in case.

Feeling once again defeated, Scott sighs.

"We're going to check the park next. You're sure the hospital hasn't admitted her or anything?" Lydia asks again, having already inquired about this before.

"Yeah, my mom is keeping me updated," Scott informs her. The two utter a few more words about the search and then hang up.

"So nothing?" Stiles asks.

"Nothing," Scott responds, keeping his eyes on Isaac and watching him clench his jaw.

The boys drive in silence for a few minutes, despair hanging in the air. Without a warning, however, Isaac slams his hand down on the seat.

"Stop the car," he demands in a frightening voice.

Scott's eyes widen as he picks up on Camilla's scent, which Isaac apparently had done too.

Stiles obliges quickly, his tires making loud noises as he slams on his brakes and pulls over into a ditch on the outskirts of some woods.

Isaac doesn't wait for the Jeep to stop before he shoots out, not waiting for anyone to follow him. He follows the scent and soon Scott is right beside him, the two werewolves hurrying to find her.

Stiles tries to keep up, but the boy bends over from running, taking deep and ragged breaths.

"No, you guys go on without me," he suggests to no one, the two werewolves having already made quite a bit of distance between themselves and Stiles.

They trudge deeper into the woods, and the smell gets stronger. It smells like blood.

When they nearly reach the center, Isaac spots a familiar shape on the ground and he races towards it.

Scott watches as Isaac's kneels next to Camilla's body and picks it up. It was surprisingly limp.

"Baby? Camilla. Hey, wake up," Isaac begs, shaking the girl's body.

As Scott gets closer he can see why the scent of blood was so strong. Camilla had gashes almost everywhere. Her hair was matted down with some dry and some still wet blood. Her dress was ruined, torn and soaked with blood. She had no shoes on.

Isaac's frantic voice continues to call out for his girlfriend, who was not responding. Tears flood down his face as he tries over and over again to wake her up.

"Is she breathing?" Scott dares himself to ask Isaac.

Before Isaac answers, the two hear pounding feet and heavy breaths come up behind them as Stiles wobbles his way over to them, sweat pouring down his face.

"Am I too late? Is she okay?" he asks, panting.

"She's—" Isaac begins in a somber voice, only to once again be interrupted by Stiles.

"Woah, what's with the ground below you two? Why is it so… fresh? This looks like it was upturned recently."

Scott and Isaac look at the ground and notice what Stiles had pointed out.

"Do you think…?" Scott begins.

"Camilla, wake up, baby," Isaac says once more. Turning to the guys he says, "She's still alive, but her pulse is low. She's lost a lot of blood."

"Isaac, do you think she… killed Jessica?" Stiles asking, gulping. "Look at her hands, they're covered in dirt, especially under the fingernails."

"Well there's only one way to find out, but she needs to go to the hospital, now," Isaac demands, standing up with Camilla in his arms.

"Stiles, you take them, I'll find out if Jessica's…. here," Scott tells his friend. "I'll get Lydia and Nolan to pick me up."

The boy nods and follows Isaac who had already made a start towards the vehicle.

When they arrive and get inside, Stiles races to the hospital, taking the Jeep to the emergency area. Isaac rushes Camilla in and the doctors take her. It seems like hours before anyone comes out to tell Isaac anything. By that time, Ron, Susan, and the sheriff were there.

"Is she okay? Is she awake?" Ron asks instantly when he sees Camilla's doctor.

"She's fine, she's awake now, but she needs some rest. She lost a lot of blood, but she'll recover. I can take you guys in to see her, but only for a few minutes."

Ron nods and he along with Susan and Isaac follow the doctor to Camilla's room, leaving the sheriff and his son alone in the waiting room.

"Thank God she'll be okay… Now I need to find a way to cover this up," the sheriff strokes his chin, his face still full of worry.

Melissa walks up and smiles lightly at the familiar faces.

"Thank God she's okay," she says quietly.

The sheriff nods, "But how are we going to write this one off? I don't think the town is ready to hear about werewolves just yet."

Melissa shrugs, "You could always just blame it on a cult. When in down, blame it on a cult."

Stiles looks up, his eyes brightening.

"You know, that might actually work," he tells them.

In another area of the hospital, Ron, Susan, and Isaac finally get to Camilla's room, where the brunette was resting. Several bandages and stitches covered her body, but the girl still was able to smile when she saw the ones she loved.

"My baby girl," Ron gushes, making his way over to Camilla to take her hand. He wanted desperately to hug her, but he thought better of it.

Susan instantly starts crying and apologizing profusely, despite her lack of fault.

Isaac just sits silently, his face contorted with happiness and relief.

"Baby, I was so worried about you. How do you feel?" Ron asks.

"I'm hanging in there," Camilla says, her voice quiet. She looks at Isaac when she speaks, a small smile on her lips.

The girl talks to her father and Susan for a few minutes before the doctor returns to usher them out.

"I'll be back soon, honey. Get some rest. I love you so much," Ron tells his daughter.

"I love you too."

Ron and Susan leave but Isaac stays behind.

"Hi," Camilla says to him.

"Hi," he returns; the first words he had spoken to her.

Isaac's eyes examine his girlfriend's face, which was surprisingly okay despite the large gash on her hairline. The rest of her body was much worse.

"Look, there's a million things I could say right now, but I have to go, so I just want you to know that I love you with every inch of me. I love you so much it hurts. Seeing you like this hurts me so much, but I don't care. I would take all the pain in the world just to be able to see you. I love you, Camilla, and I always will. No matter what."

Tears flood Camilla's eyes and she tries to blink them away.

"I love you so much," she manages to choke out. Isaac takes her hand and kisses it, but the doctor comes in once more to escort him out.

Camilla watches with tears in her eyes as the man she loves walks out, his eyes on her the whole time.

\-------

Three days later, the brunette was watching Supernatural whilst laying on the couch. Her father, who had taken the whole week off work, was sitting next to her watching the TV show as well.

"Are the angel and that Dean guy, like, in love with each other? I sense some heavy sexual tension," Ron observes, his eyes glued to the screen.

Camilla readjusts her blanket and turns to her dad with a small smile.

"Pretty much yeah. They just won't come right out and express it."

Ron nods, accepting the information.

"Sometimes love is hard," he says after a moment.

Camilla laughs, "You're right dad."

The father and daughter enjoy the rest of the episode in silence. That is, until the doorbell rings, signifying a guest.

"Damn, it was just getting good," Ron mutters, standing up slowly to answer their door.

Padding across the living room floor, Ron makes his way to the door and opens it to reveal Graham, a bouquet of flowers in his hand.

"Graham! Great to see you bud!" Ron exclaims, giving Graham a usual man-hug with an excessive amount of pats on the back.

"You too Ron, you're looking good! Been working out for the old wedding there, huh?" Graham says with an impressed smile.

Ron blushes a bit, "Yeah, I just want to not look like a fat old man in the pictures."

"Well you're far from it, that's for sure," Graham responds honestly.

Ron smiles and then gestures for Graham to enter the house, which he does.

"Camilla's on the couch," Ron let's Graham know.

The boy nods and makes his way to where Camilla sits. The girl was not expecting his arrival and her face clearly shows it.

"These are for you, my werewolf-killing goddess," Graham says sweetly, handing over the flowers.

Feeling a bit pleased, Camilla smiles, "How'd you remember Gerbera daisies were my favorite?"

"How could I forget? I also remember that you also love peanut butter M&M's, reading horror books, and watching The Nightmare Before Christmas."

"That sounds like Camilla in a nutshell," Ron laughs heartily.

Camilla shakes her head and laughs softly. She was grateful for Graham's gift; it was nice to have some more company besides her father, Isaac, or Susan. And company who brings gifts is always a plus in Camilla's eyes.

"How about something to eat, Graham? I was just going to make Camilla some lunch, you want some too?" Ron offers, taking the flowers to put them in a vase.

"No, thank you. I was just going to check in on Camilla for a bit. My dad's still in town so we were going to go golfing."

Ron nods and leaves the room, much to Graham's delight. The boy takes a seat on the couch where Ron had been sitting before and looks over at Camilla.

"How are you feeling, badass?" he asks her.

"I'm okay. Just laying low. The whole town was kind of freaking out and I just want to rest for a while. I'm kind of sick of going to the hospital every week."

"Well, if we keep training, I feel like you'll be able to get on a level where you won't have to worry about that. You're advancing a lot, Camilla," Graham praises her.

Camilla looks away and a weird look crosses over her face.

"Look, Graham, I just killed a werewolf. I never ever wanted it to come to that. I just wanted skills to defend myself. I took it too far."

Graham repositions himself, his face full of confusion.

"So what does this mean?"

Camilla picks at the ends of the blanket and doesn't make eye contact, "It means I'm not training anymore. I know what I'm capable of now, and I never want to have to use those skills again. I'm glad to know I have them, but I don't want to make a habit of using them. I talked to my dad and everything, and he agrees with me. It's just too risky. I'll keep in shape, but I don't want it to go further than that."

Graham processes the information, staring down at his hands in his lap.

"I can't believe you're quitting, Camilla. After all you've learned? You're a hunter! You can't just not hunt!" He says, looking up at her.

"That's what my dad does. And he's happy. He's getting married soon, to someone he loves. His life is normal again. Well, almost normal. I want that too. I don't want the hunter's life."

"You want normal and you're dating a werewolf?" Graham retaliates. "How does that even work out, you just killed one of his kind and he's just okay with it? Pretty fucked up if you ask me."

"Yeah, well I didn't ask you," Camilla snaps.

Graham notices the hurt on his friend's face and sighs.

"I'm sorry… I just see how much potential you have… You killed a damn Alpha with just a little bit of training under your belt. You're amazing Camilla, do you realize that?"

"Trust me, I'm not that great."

"But you are. In more ways than just hunting. You're an amazing person. You're funny, smart, beautiful. It's a shame we ever broke up," Graham confesses, shocking the brunette next to him.

"Graham," she warns.

"No, I'm not going to stop. I always keep it in. Sure, I'll flirt and call you nicknames, but that's not all it is. I love you Camilla. I was just too dumb to realize it sooner. I shouldn't have let you go."

"Graham, stop. I have a boyfriend who I love. What happened with us is the past. I'm sorry. You're a great guy, but we are not meant to be together," Camilla manages to get out.

Graham laughs sarcastically, "So what am I supposed to do now? Stick around to coach some stupid baseball team and watch you go off with some werewolf?"

"He's my boyfriend, not some werewolf. You know that. Baseball ends soon, maybe you should just go back home…" Camilla suggests.

Graham shakes his head, "I honestly can't believe you're doing this."

"Graham, I'm sorry! I'm not training anymore, and I don't have feelings for you. It's over. It's all over."

"So I really have no reason to stay," Graham mutters, fully realizing it.

"I guess not."

Graham nods and stands up to leave.

"It was great while it lasted, Camilla," are his last words as he heads out.

Camilla rolls her eyes and hears her father yell from the kitchen.

"Did Graham just leave?"

"Yeah," Camilla yells back, then quieter, she says, "Probably for good."

\-------

Ben watches Marcel Hayes leave the station, and right as the man is out the door, the officer rushes over to Donna Lamb's desk.

"Did you just hear that?" he asks, his voice excited and his face red.

"What, some guy's crazy wife died in a crazy house?" she replies, her expression and tone bored.

"Well, yeah. Isn't it weird… she was just let out of Eichen and then she's back and she dies?"

Donna shrugs, "I'm not too concerned about it. I'm just happy I don't have to do the paperwork."

Ben relaxes a bit, but his mind was still whirring. Why was nobody else questioning the sudden death of Kelly Hayes?

"It's just weird to me… A lot of stuff that goes on here is weird. Like that Erica Reyes girl, her parents were murdered and the case just went cold. No possible suspects, no leads, nothing. And she seems content with it. Just like everyone else," he says to his fellow officer.

Donna shrugs again, obviously not interested.

"Not to mention she's dating one of the Hales, whose house burned down out of the blue! And Peter Hale? What happened to him? He was in a coma or something, then he's back, and now he's just gone again?"

Donna turns to look and listen to him, an amused look on her face.

"And what's with this Lydia Martin girl always showing up at murder scenes? OH! And the biggest one there is.. her best friend died last year, and what ever came of that? It was the sheriff's kid's friend, and no one seemed phased by it. And now, one of the other ones just goes missing and when she's found, no one investigates it anymore?"

Donna licks her lips, a smile appearing.

"Didn't you hear, though? They found out why she went missing. It was a cult. They had been watching her all night and they tried to take her at the bar, and they were successful, but she got away. The leader is who the owner identified. The girl doesn't remember anything, so we can't really do anything with it," the blonde reveals, smiling as she watches Ben react.

"Another case, closed with no real outcome? No one arrested, no one charged with anything? This town is fucking nuts," Ben says, walking back toward his desk.

He takes a seat and puts his chin in his hands, but he soon stands back up and walks to the front of the station.

He stops at Connie's desk and the woman looks up.

"Can I help you, Officer Hunt?" she says in a sultry voice.

"Yeah, I want the case file for the Reyes murders, please."

"Oh," Connie says, disappointed. "One sec."

Donna, coming out of nowhere, pauses next to Ben.

"And what are you going to do with that?" she asks, curious.

"I'm going to re-open the murder case," Ben tells her confidently.

\-------

Lydia hands Stiles a glass of lemonade and then sits down beside him on the Martin's front porch swing. Lazily, Stiles puts his arm around Lydia and sighs. The two watch as a group of little kids runs down the street laughing.

"Nolan's dad is back in town," Stiles says suddenly, "I'm hoping he gets some answers."

"Did you guys find anything the other night? I didn't get much of a chance to ask at the bar, what with the missing Argent and everything…" Lydia recalls.

"No, we didn't find anything that would explain why his mom just… popped."

"I wonder if he'll be in the mood for Ron and Susan's wedding in a few weeks."

"Even if he doesn't want to go I think he still should, if he stays home he'll just be trapped with his thoughts and that'll just be bad for him. He should be with people. I mean, He's sorta turning dark and twisty with all this."

"Are you going to go to the wedding?" Lydia asks casually, grabbing a strand of her hair she begins to play with it as she listens to Stiles.

"I, uh, yeah I am. I'm all about the big days, ya know? Who doesn't love the white dress and the dancing and all that? Are you going?"

"Oh of course, Camilla's one of my closest friends."

"That's nice of you."

Lydia smiles, "Yeah… yeah… so maybe you'd want to ride together and sit together. I love Camilla and everything, but Isaac'll be at the wedding and the last thing I want to have to deal with is seeing those two get all hot and bothered. So if we were together you'd be an excellent distraction."

"So this is a… date?" Stiles beams.

"Stiles, we talked about this – I want to take things slow. Light-years slow even. I think we don't call this a 'date' it more like two friends going to a wedding together, sharing a meal, and dancing… with a possible kiss at the end of the night."

"Maybe lots of kissing?"

"Maybe," Lydia chuckles.

"I think I'm really going to enjoy being your boyfriend."

Lydia sighs, "Let's just see how the date goes before we start throwing around the 'B' word, shall we?"

"Did you just call it a date?"

"You caught that did you?"

\-------

Nolan walks up the front porch steps of his house and puts his key into the door. The chirping of birds in a nearby maple tree provide an uncomfortable hominess to the house – which was more looming and menacing since Kelly had killed herself in the kitchen. Pushing away his feelings, Nolan pushes the front door open and finds himself in the familiar foyer. His dog, Jane Fonda, greets him at the door with a wagging tail and sloppy kisses.

"Fonda!" the boy exclaims dropping to his knees to pet the dog, "oh who's a good girl? Who's the best dog?"

The boy pets his golden retriever for a moment more before he stands back up and calls through the house, "Dad?" part of him hopes there will be no reply so that he may leave and forget all about the secrets his father has been keeping.

"In the kitchen!" his dad hollers back.

Reluctantly, Nolan heads toward the kitchen. He passes by the big dining room table and sees the big scratch on the left side that his sister had accidently created when cutting a piece of poster board for her solar system diorama. Nolan sees his father before he enters the kitchen and considers leaving for a moment, before he clears his throat and enters.

Marcel stops putting away dinner plates when his son enters the room and smiles at his son, "It's good to see you."

"If only the feeling were mutual," Nolan quips, "how was your trip to… was it Atlantis or Narnia? I can't really remember."

"Oh, how I've missed that humor of yours."

"Where'd ya go, pops? Did the Overlords give you the green light to finally answer some of my questions or is the word still mum?"

Marcel sighs and walks over to the kitchen table where he sits down and frowns before replying, "I was in St. Louis. I had your mother cremated and when I got back yesterday I went over to Eichen House and had one of the orderlies sign some forms that said her autopsy showed an overdose in her anti-anxiety meds. It's officially in the books as a suicide. That's what the police know."

"Saying she slit her wrists wasn't a satisfactory cause of death?"

"It's just better this way, Nolan."

"Why were the police involved?"

"The Davis' next door called in a noise complaint that night… so I went in and told them what had happened."

Rolling his blue eyes, Nolan asks, "Alright.. why St. Louis?"

"It's uh… it's where your mother and I met. It's the first place we lived and it's where Annalise was born – and even though your mother is in an urn now, I think she would've wanted the cremation to happen there. That place was always our true home."

"How thoughtful of you…"

"Of course, Virginia was also very homey – Falls Church especially. That's where you were born. After that, I mean, Duluth, Minnesota… Boise, Idaho… Springfield… none of them were ever really home."

"That's a lot of moving. Like a lot a lot. That's five moves in fifteen years."

"We were in St. Louis for a while. We didn't move to Falls Church until two months before you were born. I wouldn't have moved at all if your mother hadn't insisted it was the only option we had to keep you and your sister safe."

"Safe from what?"

Ignoring his son's question, Marcel continues, "And then Annalise was murdered and your mother got sick and it just seemed frivolous to move. Then you turned fifteen and the letter came, telling me that you'd been added to the list. We would've moved here sooner than we did, but it took a long time to get Benedictine to let me out of my contract."

"Annalise was murdered?"

"Not to mention it took me a while before I could find a mental institution that could handle your mother's… afflictions. Eichen House was capable and so… here we are. New state, new house, and I don't even know if we're safe now."

"Dad," Nolan nearly shouts as he takes a step toward his father, "what the hell are we hiding from?"

Marcel looks up at his son and sighs, "You want answers, Nolan? Then I think you ought to sit down because I've got a lot to tell you."

\-------

 


	20. Diablo (4x08)

Melissa pushes open the trunk and grabs Scott's overnight bag. She hands it to her son and pats him on the shoulder before asking, "Did you remember to pack your inhaler?"

Scott rolls his eyes, "Mom, I'm a werewolf now… I sorta don't need an inhaler."

"Right, right. You'd think after a year I'd have that locked in my memory," the woman chuckles. "Okay, well I will pick you up here when you get back Sunday afternoon. Don't do anything too crazy while you're there, alright?"

"Mom, it's just an overnight college visit."

"I know, but I've heard things about Diablo Valley… so, please honey, just keep it together."

"I love you and I'll see you tomorrow," the teen wolf says, turning his back to his mother he shouts, "Hey, Stiles!" and takes off toward his friend.

Parked directly beside the school bus are the Stilinskis. The sheriff crosses his arms sternly as Scott catches up to them, Stiles grabs his red duffle bag and smiles at his friend before asking, "Are you ready to go to calleeeeeege?"

The sheriff sighs, "Stiles, don't sell your adderall. Don't drink. Don't take anything that some guy with an upside down, backwards visor gives you and don't forget to put on your cream…"

"Cream?" Lydia asks, stopping beside the bus, she gives Stiles a worried look.

Nervously, Stiles chuckles and says, "Dad that went away a while ago."

Before the Sheriff can say anything else, Stiles hurries onto the bus – Scott close behind him. As the boys head to the back of the bus they watch as Camilla and Erica slam into the seat in front of them and then watch as Nolan slide into the across to them, next to Lydia.

Loudly and violently, a whistle is blown and all the kids on the bus look to the front in shock. Without a moment to allow the kids to take in what was happening, Coach Finstock begins to yell.

"Alright you little freaks," the man says, "I know you're all probably thinking this trip to Diablo Valley is going to be a wild two days. But guess what? Coach Bobby's here to make sure your booze parade gets rained on."

"Lame!" shouts a kid from the back of the bus.

"Hey, fat mouth. Shut your face."

"Gee coach, I have genuinely missed you these past few weeks," Stiles laughs.

"Oh yeah? I hate to cut our reunion short, but you can get your stuff and get the hell off this bus."

"W-what?"

"You can't kick him off," Lydia remarks, "we all had to pay fifty dollars for this trip."

"I'll refund Stilinski's cash."

"Coach, come on. We're like Tom and Jerry… we insult each other left and right, but I think we can both agree we love each other," Stiles says defensively.

"No, no," the man says as he walks back to Stiles' seat, "see, you're a lesson for the rest of the kids on this trip. Any of you who think I'm kidding around when I say that this trip is going to be purely for academic interest hopefully realize I mean it."

"Coach…"

"Get off the bus Stilinski. That goes for anyone else who thinks they're going to end this nice trip with the consumption of… giggle juice."

Shocked, Stiles gets up from his seat, grabs his bag from under the row in front of him and heads toward the front of the bus. As he walks down the steps, he sees the Coach smile and wave goodbye to him and Lydia sitting beside Nolan with a sad expression on her face.

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

"Faster, Fredricks!" Graham screams from behind home plate. The young man was drenched in dirt and sweat, as was the whole baseball team he was trying to coach.

When the boy he yelled at finally got the ball into his glove, Graham watches him throw it directly to him and his gloved hand swings up to catch the incoming ball.

Graham sighs and takes his glove off, throwing it in the dirt and making some of it puff up into the air.

"Alright, bring it in!"

The boys waste no time doing what they were told; it had been a brutal practice and they were not about to make it last any longer.

"Our game tonight is important, guys," Graham begins when the team was huddled around him. "No sissy throws, no idiotic strike outs, no dropped balls. Nothing. We need this game."

His eyes wander from sweaty face to sweaty face, making sure each boy understood. When his eyes get to Isaac, he frowns.

"Lahey, you understand?" he yells.

The werewolf nods, a little smirk on his face. Ever since Camilla had told Graham she was done with him, Graham had been hating on Isaac. Not that it bothered him, because he was the one that go to go home to her every night.

"Speak up, kid. I said, do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand that we need to win. No, I don't understand why you have a stick up your ass constantly. We're one of the best teams around, we've got this in the bag."

Small chuckles stir up from the group as Graham's face gets even redder from the insult.

"Excuse me, Lahey? Do you want to be benched tonight?"

Isaac shrugs, "If you think you can win without me, go ahead."

Graham clenches his teeth tightly.

"Take five laps around the field, NOW," Graham demands, his eyes locked on Isaac.

The boy shrugs and walks away from the group to start his laps.

Graham watches as he begins to run with ease, the laps obviously not meaning anything to him.

"The rest of you," he says, turning back to the team, "if you have anything to say, why don't you just go ahead and join Lahey over there. If not, hit the showers and be back at the field two hours before the game."

\-------

Erica pops her ear bud out of her ear and turns to the brunette beside her who was reading yet another Stephen King book.

"You wanna hear about my weird date with Ben?" Erica offers, dangling the bait she knew Camilla would take.

"Is that even a question?" the girl responds, shutting her book and placing it back into her bag.

Erica readjusts her position to face Camilla better for prime gossiping. She takes a deep breath and begins.

"So after Derek and I… whatever… I texted Ben and told him what was up and he instantly asked me out. Like it took him a mere second to respond."

"Eager… I like it. A nice break from brooding and unwilling," Camilla comments.

Erica rolls her eyes, "Tell me about it. Anyways, so we made plans and went out last night. We just went to some restaurant and he was super gentlemanly. It was really hot, actually. But when we sit down, no matter what the conversation was, I felt like he was drilling me with questions."

Camilla frowns lightly, "Well isn't that normal for first date material? You try and get to know the person you're with to see if there's potential for date number two?"

"Well, yes, but he was legitimately questioning me. And it was some deep stuff too," Erica reveals.

"Maybe it's just his inner cop coming out," Camilla shrugs.

"I don't know, maybe. It just seemed like he wanted to know a lot about my life. He even asked about my parents quite a bit. And you."

Camilla thinks for a minute, then responds, "He could just be trying to catch up. You're still living with Derek so maybe he thinks he's still got competition."

Before Erica can respond, Scott's head pops up from behind the top of the girl's shared seat.

"You guys got any food?" he asks rather loudly, his headphones still in.

"Headphones, Scott," Camilla tells the boy, pointing to her ears.

"Oh, right," he says, loudly still. "Sorry," he says in a normal voice after he takes them out.

Camilla grabs her bag and pulls out an orange bag, throwing it to Scott who catches it with ease.

"Knock yourself out," she says.

Scott's eyes light up as he eyes the bag in his hand, "Reese's Pieces?"

"It's not a road trip without 'em," Camilla shrugs, watching him tear open the bag.

"Allison and I used to share these when we were studying. It was sort of our tradition," Scott smiles, dumping some into his open palm.

No one says anything as Scott chews on the candy, his thoughts on Allison but his eyes on Camilla.

"You know, you're reminding me of her more and more every day," Scott says after a minute, his voice serious.

"Is that a compliment?" Camilla asks, pulling out her book from her bag to return to it.

"Definitely," Scott says, keeping his eyes on Camilla. The brunette smiles lightly and quickly turns her eyes away, recognizing a look in Scott's eyes that she really didn't want to be seeing from him.

Across the aisle Nolan leans his head against the cool glass of the bus window, music playing loudly in his headphones. He watches as mountains and grass speed past him when suddenly there's a tap on his shoulder – he reluctantly pulls a headphone out of his ear and turns to face his red haired friend.

"Yeah?" he asks, sounding meaner than he'd intended.

Lydia huffs, "Stiles is off the trip. I hate this. And you're sitting here all sad and dark and twisty and honestly you're making me regret agreeing to be your bus buddy."

"Dark and twisty?"

Lydia rolls her eyes, "Talk to me, Hayes. What's going on with you? What's the deal with you and Jackson, now that Fitz is out of the picture are you back together…? Tell me something."

"Why in the hell would you want to hear about your ex-boyfriends adventures in homo-town?"

"Because," Lydia replies, "you are one of my best friends, Nolan. Also, I've got my own relationship going on right now – with someone who's currently stuck back in Beacon Hills… much like your significant other."

"I'm not talking about Jackson with you."

"Why not?"

"Because there isn't anything to talk about, okay? I haven't seen Jackson since my dad came back to town and that's… it sucks a little, but whatever. I'm over it. I'm over him. Not that I was ever under him."

"You're crabby. Was your dad's return not… as enlightening as you'd hoped?"

"You mean did he come out and tell me that my mom was an infant eating demon? No. In fact he didn't tell me anything, it was more of the same."

"I'm sorry," Lydia says quietly, "I know you want the truth."

"Yeah, well, all I've managed to get is dark and twisty apparently."

"If you're not in the mood for anything, why'd you come on this trip?"

Nolan shrugs, "I don't know. My dad already paid for it and we can't just throw away fifty bucks, ya know? Hopefully after we see the campus my attitude will lose some of the darkness that's surrounding it."

"We'll have fun," Lydia assures him, "I promise you that I'll help you find some hot college hottie who'll want to do very naughty things with you."

"So long as he doesn't howl at the moon…"

Lydia chuckles, "I'll do my best."

\-------

Stiles looks at his watch for about the fifth time and sighs when he sees only two minutes have gone by.

"You know, Beacon Hills really sucks when all of your friends are gone," he grumbles to himself, shoving another piece of pie into his mouth, feeling the whipped cream cover his lips.

He groans at the delicious taste and shovels in another bite right as the Beacon Hills High School baseball team storms into the diner. Each boy was sweaty and dirty, but every single one of them had a huge smile plastered on their face.

"Root beer floats on me, fellas!" one of the players yells, earning cheers from him teammates.

Stiles sees a familiar face and gives the boy a nod. Isaac nods back and makes his way over to Stiles's booth.

"I'm guessing there was a victory?"

Isaac smiles and nods, "There definitely was. 7 to 1. We kicked ass."

"Congrats, dude."

"Thanks, man. Aren't you supposed to be on that college trip with Camilla and them?" Isaac inquires, taking a seat in the booth.

"Yeah, I was. But there was… a conflict of interest."

Isaac purses his lips in thought, "I see. Well, it's only about a two hour drive right? It's only like 7:30, why don't you just drive down there yourself?"

Stiles begins to consider that idea when Graham walks up to the two.

"What's up, ladies?" he says with a sneer.

"Look, Graham. I have to respect you on the field, but here, we're just two guys," Isaac begins, standing up to face him.

"You're right, Lahey. Just two guys," Graham agrees. Without warning he shoves Isaac, hard.

"Are you kidding me, dude?" Isaac shouts. The werewolf, fired up, starts after him, but Stiles stands up quickly and gets in between them.

"Ha ha, fellas, let's not do this here, okay?" he suggests, holding Isaac back, barely.

"You're right, let's take this to the parking lot," Graham spits out, anger in his eyes.

Isaac makes a move to leave, but Stiles holds him back again.

"Or let's not do any of that. Huh, Isaac? How about we go visit Diablo Valley? Let's go see Camilla, I'm sure she'd love the surprise," Stiles offers up, trying his best to keep the wolf at bay.

Isaac glares at Graham and processes Stiles's suggestion. After a moment he backs off.

"Yeah, let's go."

Stiles relaxes a bit and grabs his jacket from the booth, pulling out a crumpled ten dollar bill and throwing it on the table.

"Okay, right this way. Excuse us, Graham, we're going to go visit Camilla. You know her right, Isaac's girlfriend?" Stiles asks, walking by Graham with a smirk.

Graham's face turns even angrier and Stiles moves faster.

"Oh yeah, you do know her. Okay. Yep."

Graham watches the two climb into Stiles's Jeep and slams his fist on the table trying to let out his frustration.

\-------

"23….24…..25!" the crowd cheers on Camilla, who was currently doing a keg stand.

The brunette lifts up her head and cheers after she swallows. The crowd cheers for her and the two guys holding her up help her to get back on her feet.

The girl was pretty shaky, so one of the guys had to hold on tight to keep her upright.

"You gonna be okay?" he asks loudly over the music.

"I don't really know!" Camilla answers, laughing.

"Let's get you somewhere else, then, huh?" he offers, his hand sliding down to cup her ass.

"Oh fuck no, I'm not that drunk," Camilla starts, anger in her eyes. Nolan, who was nearby keeping an eye on his friend instantly steps in, knowing her tendency to punch guys in the face.

"Hey, I've got her now, thanks so much but your services are no longer needed," he interjects, putting one of Camilla's arms around his shoulders and walking her over to a less crowded area.

"I was going to fucking punch that little dirt bag," Camilla reveals to Nolan, not that he wasn't already aware.

"Yes, and I saved you from that disaster, so you're welcome," Nolan tells her, letting her walk on her own.

"Can I sit here?" Camilla asks, pointing to an aquarium.

"I don't think—"

"I'm gonna sit here," Camilla answers herself, lifting herself up on top of the glass.

"Be careful, please," Nolan worries, reaching his hands out just in case the drunk girl takes a spill.

"I'm good, Nolan. I'm good."

"Are you good, Camilla?"

The girl cocks her head and points her finger, "Actually, no. I'm not. I miss Allison and I think about her everyday. I can't stop thinking about her."

Nolan deflates a little bit, feeling sad for the girl. He shoves his hands into the back pockets of his jeans and he steps closer to his friend.

"I miss her too," he informs the girl.

"I've been thinking about bringing her back. The resurrection triscuit thing can't be the only way to bring someone back. There's no way, there has to be something else," she mumbles to him, her thoughts whirring.

"Resurrection Triquetra," Nolan corrects. "And I honestly don't know. I wish there was, but I can almost guarantee it's not perfect. There has to be some sort of stipulation with it. Like give up your first born child, or something."

"I would do anything to get Armpit back. We were just beginning to be best friends again. Like when we were kids. Nolan, I need her back."

Nolan looks at the desperation on his friend's face and his heart breaks a little bit.

"You know, you seem so much stronger than you are. I had no idea it hurt you so much."

Camilla shrugs, "Unfortunately death is common in my life. I know all the tricks."

Nolan doesn't say another word, but he grabs his friend's hand and squeezes, offering up some type of comfort.

"You've got to know something, Nolan. You have those books and you already know a lot about the supernatural. Isn't there any way you can help me? I need her back, Nolan."

"Camilla, I—"

"There you guys are!" Scott exclaims, walking over with a relieved look on his face. "I step away for one minute and I lose everyone. I'm pretty sure Erica is about to have a threesome or something."

Nolan's eyes widen and his body jerks up from its resting position.

"Um, Scott, did it not occur to you to… I don't know, stop her?" Nolan says loudly.

"Well, I, uh—"

"Right, thanks for the help. You watch Camilla, I'm going to go stop the dumb blonde," Nolan shakes his head and walks away.

"How you feeling, Camilla?" Scott asks.

"I feel like I just did a keg stand and I probably shouldn't have," Camilla replies truthfully.

Scott laughs, "So, I've been meaning to talk to you about what happened on the bus today…"

Camilla turns her eyes away from Scott and waits for him to begin.

"I didn't really mean to freak you out. You and Allison are just so similar it amazes me sometimes. I mean you guys had barely been together for a few months and you already were so similar… It's pretty crazy."

Camilla smiles and doesn't say anything for a beat or two.

"Wanna know why she calls me Cleavage?"

Scott gets an amused expression on his face and nods.

Camilla begins to fiddle with something in her pocket while speaking to Scott.

"So we used to always watch The Breakfast Club together when we were kids. Almost every time we were together, actually. Sometimes we'd just watch it over and over. And we were always so amazed when Molly Ringwald's character puts on lipstick using only her cleavage. We both dreamed of the day when we had boobs to do that. So once, she and her parents were coming to visit, and I had started… blossoming, I suppose, and so I had everything set up in my room. The movie was ready to be played, there was popcorn and candy, and I had some lipstick tucked under my pillow. And when that part came on in the movie, I grabbed my lipstick and did the same thing. Of course, I didn't do it perfectly and I got it all over my face, but Allison was so impressed. It made me so happy. I always was in such awe of her, and for the first time she was jealous of me. It was amazing. And that's how I got my nickname…"

Camilla finally pulls out lipstick and begins to demonstrate the very action that earned her her nickname. When she pulls her head up, she laughs, and Scott joins her, noting the lipstick all over her face.

"I guess I'm still not very good at it. But hey, at least it made Allison think I was cool," Camilla says, wiping the lipstick from her face.

"You are pretty cool," Scott replies, his eyes glued to her.

Without warning, the boy crosses the short distance between them and grabs Camilla's face, pulling her to him and placing his lips on her.

The girl instantly pushes him away, and she hops down from the aquarium.

"Scott, what the actual fuck? NOT OKAY!"

"Camilla, I… I don't know what came over me, I'm sorry. I—"

"There's my sexy girlfriend," a voice says from behind them.

Camilla turns and she walks up to Isaac.

"Babe, hey. So I'm a bit drunk, but I would just like you to know that Scott just fucking kissed me," she spits out to him, not wasting a breath.

Isaac's eyes widen and he looks over at Scott whose mouth was hanging open.

"Look, Isaac. Really, I didn't—"

His sentence gets cut short when Isaac's fist hits his face.

Scott goes down and doesn't bother getting up.

"Well, that was hot," Camilla adds in.

Across the house Lydia smoothly walks away from a group of drunk boys who had somehow gotten into a fight with one another – resulting in a drink being tossed all over Lydia's light green blouse.

"Of course," Lydia mumbles as she walks up the stairs of the large, wood floored house, "I go to a college party for the first time since sophomore year and I get spilled on. Of course."

The strawberry blonde is now faced with a wide hallway and several doors. She walks down the hall, the music from the party still rocking the house. She look in the first door on the left and sees a bedroom – two girls lying on the bed and making out in it. Next she walks further and looks into the door on the right, seeing an empty bedroom with green shag carpet this time.

Suddenly, a chill runs down Lydia's spine as the music from the party begins to hush to a vague, ominous hum. The girl looks around and sees that the wood paneling on the walls has turned from simple knots to what appear to be faces. Her heart in her chest, Lydia walks to the wall and places her hand against it, her finger circling a knot that she was certain looked just like the face of someone she used to know.

Allison.

Swallowing hard, Lydia turns around and instantly slams herself against the wall.

The opposite side of paneling looks as though to be bleeding.

That's when the smell hits her. At first, Lydia thinks perhaps it's just the concoction of booze that had been spilt onto her flowered skirt, but she's quick to detect the smell of gasoline.

Not having realized it, Lydia turns her head and sees she's reached the end of the hall. Her hand is on the long knob of a door and she quickly turns it and steps into the room. Although she doesn't herself shut the door, a rush of air comes and slams it shut behind her.

Lydia takes in the appearance of the room in a few fast bursts: white walls, white carpet, big desk, two pleather orange chairs and a record player against the left wall. There are no windows in the room and no sound either – not even the faint hum of music that she'd heard once before.

As if in a dream, Lydia walks towards the desk and sees a sheet of paper laying in the very center a single word written on it in clean cursive: DEATH.

The girl's eyes slowly move upward and fear runs through her body. On the wall in front of her are what appears to be faces trying to push their way out. It's something out of a nightmare. Lydia can hear them, she's sure she can. She can hear them crying in pain, begging for her help.

"Please…" she hears, although it's not loud like a scream. It's like a voice inside her head.

Lydia turns her back to the faces, just as the record begins to play.

Although it's scratchy, Lydia is able to make out the words perfectly.

"…Coroner pronounced her dead/And through the town the joyous news went running/The joyous news that the wicked old witch was finally dead…" the tune was cheerful, although the mood was fearful until a retched scream went through the speakers and a voice called, "OH GOD LYDIA HELP! PLEASE OH GOD IT HURTS! LYDIA PLEASE!"

"Allison?" Lydia asked in shock as she rushed to the speakers and collapsed in front of them.

"HELP ME LYDIA, PLEASE! HELP ME! IT HURTS, IT HURTS."

It was clear as day that it was Allison.

Lydia quickly began to clutch at the speakers, tears running down her face she screams, "Allison!"

The door of the room swings open and suddenly all the world fell back to Lydia. The record player stopped making sound and the loud chorus of "Fancy" fills the room. Lydia looks over to the door, tears still falling down her face she stares up at Erica who raises an eyebrow and asks, "What the hell are you doing on the ground?"

Lydia brushes away her tears, "I was… I was looking for the bathroom."

"Yeah, me too," Erica replies, stepping into the room she looks to her left and points to the door beside the entrance, "found it."

The blonde girl, using the wall for support, makes her way to the bathroom flicks on the light, get on her knees in front of the toilet and mutters, "I'm gonna hurl, by the way," before she heaves.

Still confused at what had just transpired, but desperate to be out of the white room due to Erica, Lydia gets up and heads for the door, nearly running right into a tall blonde wearing a green hoodie and a worn Aristocats t-shirt.

The girl smiles down at Lydia and then whispers, "Is the bathroom this way?"

\-------

Nolan sits outside the small gas station on the curb. His knees are drawn to his chest and he feels like he's been hit by a car emotionally. With the sleeve of his jacket he wipes away a stray tear and looks up just as the sleek Porsche pulls into the lot.

In an instant, Jackson is beside him asking, "What happened?"

"I'm a freak," Nolan replies as tears start flowing down his face again, "I've always thought I was one, but now I know that I really am."

"Nolan…"

"It's just not something I ever completely believed. High school makes everyone feel like a freak in some way or another, right? But tonight… tonight I was slapped in the face with the fact that I'm a huge freak."

"What happened?"

The auburn haired boy brushes away a tear and says, "We were at this party and everyone was having fun and drinking and I started talking to this guy and he just said something about how his Infinite Physics class or something was so hard a lot of times he just wanted to kill himself and... and it all flashed before me. My mom in the kitchen with the butcher knife and the cookies and I just... I just fell apart. It was like it was happening all over again. I was hyperventilating and the guy starts chanting 'Freak! Freak! Freak!' which, yes is not very creative, but it hit me just right and I panicked and I got out of there."

Jackson wraps his arm around Nolan, "You're not a freak, Nolan. In fact you may just be one of the only people in Beacon Hills who's normal. I mean, in our group of friends we have five werewolves, a banshee, and a werewolf hunter – if any of us are freaks, it's probably the people directly tied to the supernatural world. You suffered an incredibly horrible loss not that long ago. You're entitled to fall apart."

Nolan is silent, simply nestling his head in the crook of Jackson's neck.

The two boys sit on the curb of Gas n' Go in the light of the moon and of the security light above them, a buzz from the electricity running through it. Bugs are flying straight into the glow of it over and over again – often making a distinct clicking sound when they do so.

"Are you going to be alright?" Jackson asks finally, breaking the silence.

Sniffling once more, Nolan pulls his head off Jackson's shoulder and wipes away leftover tears, "I'll be fine, really. I shouldn't have called you, that was stupid. I should've just found Lydia, she probably could've consoled me."

"I'm glad you called me."

Jackson's hand comes up to Nolan's face and the lacrosse player's thumb slowly begins to stroke the other boy's cheek. Nolan puts his hand on top of Jackson's and smiles at him softly, they stare at each other for a minute unmoving.

Neither boy says anything, too scared that the second words are added that everything will stop. Jackson moves in slowly, his lips parting as he does so. Seeing this, Nolan begins to lean in too and before either of them knows it their lips are touching – hearts beating fast, electricity shooting through each of their bodies, the kiss intensifies and then ends when Nolan pulls away.

"We… that was… it…" the boy stutters.

"What?" Jackson asked confused and angry.

Nolan raises an eyebrow, "Jackson, I am so not the guy you should want to be with. I'm a mess. A complete and total mess and I'm all…"

"Scary and damaged?"

Frowning, Nolan replies, "Dark and twisty, scary and damaged… my 'friends' sure like to sum me up."

"Nolan, don't do that," Jackson snaps, "you don't get to be upset about how we like to sum you up. You are scary and damaged or dark and twisty, but you know what? You should be. You're a scary and damaged guy. If you were a superhero you'd be Damaged Man, crumbling to pieces because of all the bad crap that keeps happening to him one day at a time. I love you, Nolan, I do, but you can't get mad because people are aware that you're a little screwed up."

The auburn haired boy beside Jackson is sure his heart stops as the words fall out of Jackson's mouth, "You.. excuse me, you what?"

Jackson's eyes widen, "Nothing. I nothing."

"You said that you l –"

"No I didn't."

"We aren't even together, Jackson. That's a serious declaration to be making…"

"I didn't declare anything."

"Jacks–"

The boy shakes his head, "Shut up, I didn't say anything. I didn't even mean it like that, you're my friend. I love my friends… most of them. Not really Stilinski, but I love the rest."

"I'm not… it's just… I'm confused, Jackson. I'm really, very confused. My whole life is a lie, I've got abandonment issues and trust issues and daddy issues. Why you'd want to be with me doesn't make any sense at all."

"You're just you," Jackson shrugs, "I just like you for you. I like all the issues and the littler weird things you're into and everything about you, alright? I like you."

"Love me."

Jackson rolls his eyes, "Whatever. Do you want me to drive you home or something?"

Nolan nods his head and Jackson gets up from the curb and walks over to his car, getting into the Porsche. Nolan stands up and brushes the back of his jeans off, he sighs and bites his lips whispering, "I love you too, I think," before he proceeds to the car.

\-------

He opens his eyes suddenly. In his position he's laying down. Around him he sees a line of moonlight flowing into the room. He tries to move, but his body is contained by something… and it burns.

As he struggles in his confines a scent hits him and he realizes that the ropes that are tied around him are soaked in wolfsbane. He now realizes he's shirtless and thus being assaulted by the wolfsbane ropes more than he may have been clothed.

Wiggling, trying to break free, a figure steps in front of the stream of moonlight – laboriously he turns his neck and looks up to see Deucalion standing in front of him, his arms crossed and a smug smile on his face.

"Hello, Derek," the Alpha says, dropping to a knee so he's closer to the wolf he's got tied up on the ground, "does this place look familiar to you?"

Derek glances around the room and shakes his head 'no.'

"Oh, come now. This is the place you were reunited with your piss-ant little sister… the place where you found your newly undead girlfriend, well, dead. We're in the bank, my friend! And we're going to have a lot of fun here."

Derek's eyes widen as he sees the twins enter into the room. Both boys are shirtless, both boys are in werewolf form.

"Kali never let us touch Erica," Aiden growls.

"But we'll show you what we would've done to her," Ethan chimes in.

Derek doesn't realize it at first, but when the violent shock of pain hits him he knows that the twins had just clawed him. His eyes shoot open as he sees Deucalion walk over to a wall, pick up a cane and pull the tip off – showing a long, bright blade.

"A little something I liked to use when I was blind," the Alpha chuckles.

As soon as the words had left his mouth and before Derek can even get the word 'stop' out Deucalion slams the blade into his shoulder, allowing it to go all the way through. Wasting no time at all, Deucalion pulls it out and shoves it into Derek's neck – just barely missing his carotid artery.

The twins laugh in merry unison as Deucalion pulls the blade out and shoves it into Derek's chest. He pulls it in and out several more times, going into the same open wound each time.

Derek rolls on the ground in pain and again, howling and begging for them to stop.

Aiden growls and kicks Derek in the temple.

Ethan laughs and kicks him in the ribs, hearing a definite crack as soon as his foot makes contact.

"This is for Jessica!" Deucalion shouts as he slams the blade into Derek right at the diaphragm, pulling it down to his bellybutton.

As the pain begins to overwhelm Derek, he shuts his eyes and prays for death to come.

\-------


	21. Save Me (4x09)

Derek's eyes slowly flutter open.

The light, although dim, hurts his eyes. The Alpha pack had taken wolfsbane spray and sprayed his eyes leaving the bloodshot and swollen – and it wasn't until now that he's regained vision. His eyes scan the room and when he doesn't see any of the Alphas he lets out a (painful) sigh of relief.

"Angel," calls a soft, yet somehow demanding female voice, "oh my sweet, sweet angel."

Derek knows that voice, he knows he does, and in an instant – when the body of the voice appears before him, tears sting his already stinging eyes.

"M..mom?"the restrained werewolf asks.

Talia Hale steps forward and cups her son's stubble covered chin, "Oh baby, you must hurt so badly."

"Please help me," Derek begs, "I need to get free."

Talia shakes her head and takes a step away from her son, "No darling, you need to just let go. Let go of all the pain and just let death take you."

"What?"

"Die, Derek," Talia repeats, "just let go and slip away into death."

"You're not my mother," Derek realizes, "my mother is dead."

"You need to die, angel," Talia smiles.

"You're not my mother!" Derek shouts.

Derek's eyes snap open and standing before him is Deucalion. The werewolf wears a sinister smile and holds a blazing fire poker in his hands. He raises an eyebrow at Derek and coolly asks, "Was your reunion with mummy not all you'd hoped it would be?" before he shoves the poker into Derek's stomach, causing the werewolf to howl in pain.

In that moment, Derek hopes death will come.

_**TEEN WOLF** _

Scott's motorcycle buzzes around a corner and zips into the vacant parking lot of the Animal Clinic. He pulls into his usual spot and pulls his helmet off to look at the gray-brick front building. He'd been here a million times before, but right now the place felt brand new.

The werewolf sighs and gets off the motorcycle. He places his helmet on the seat and makes his way toward the glass door of the business, his hand wraps around the thin, metal handle and when he pulls the door open a small chime jingles. Stepping into the waiting room of the clinic, Scott is met with two things - one, the cool breeze of the A/C in the building and two, the strange sense that something is wrong.

Scott's gaze narrows as he looks about the room, not sure what's different.

From the back of the building, Scott can hear the various animals rustling around in their kennels. A sense of security falls over him at the familiar sound.

Trying his hardest to push away the feeling, Scott calls out, "Deaton?" and is met with silence.

His whole body telling him to move, Scott walks behind the front counter and back toward the exam rooms. He passes room one, peeking in only to see an empty room with a metal exam table in the exact center.

It's when Scott gets to room two that he sees what's wrong.

Just from a slight peek inside, Scott can see the room has been torn apart. The pictures of the anatomy of a cat and a dog are knocked off the walls. The shelf that held various tools has been cleared, and most horrifyingly is that fact that a handprint of blood stains the small glass window of the room.

Scott pulls open the door and steps inside, seeing Deaton lying on the floor bloody, bruised, and unconscious. Shards of glass from various destroyed containers surrounds the man and in the blink of an eye the werewolf rushes to his ex-employer and picks him up, laying him on the exam table before he pulls out his cellphone to call 9-1-1. The dispatcher tells him that an ambulance is on its way. Scott hangs up and his hand grabs a hold of Deaton's, as he stands in the room – silence and fear filling the area – he whispers over and over, "Don't die, don't die."

It isn't until Scott can hear the sound of the ambulance driving down the street that he feels any sort of relief.

_\-------_

The gurney carrying Deaton wheels through the hospital so smoothly, even Scott can't believe it. As Dr. Avery leads her trauma team and Deaton to Trauma Room 1, Melissa comes toward her son with a scared look on her face.

"Scott, what happened?" Melissa asks as she leads Scott to a set of chairs against the wall and out of the way.

"I don't know, I went to the clinic to see if I could get my job back and I walked inside and he was just lying on the floor all… broken and whatnot. I don't know who would've done this or why anyone would want to do this... I don't…"

Melissa grabs Scott's hand tightly, "Honey, do you think there's any chance it was the Alphas?"

Something in Scott's brain clicks then, it's like everything comes together. His mother's scrubs look pinker, the sounds of coughing patients and vomiting patients sound louder, the universal hospital smell is stronger.

It was the Alpha Pack that hurt Deaton.

It all added up.

In that moment, all of Scott's panic and worry evaporates – replaced by rage.

Melissa watches as her son's eyes go from brown to red in an instant and feels in her own hand the extension of his claws.

"Whoa there buddy," the mother chides, "let's not go all werewolf in the ER."

"They did this," Scott growls, his anger really beginning to boil.

Melissa nods, "Yeah, I know, but Scott, shifting in the middle of a crowded public place isn't going to do anyone any good. Relax."

Scott shuts his eyes and focuses on his breathing. His mind dances to images of his anchor – to his and Allison's first kiss. To the first time they had sex. To the last time they hugged. Allison's smile and her scent… it's all painfully fresh in Scott's mind, but that anchor helps pull him off the cusp of transformation.

"Good," Melissa smiles, "that's a good boy."

"I'm not Maximus, mom," Scott sighs.

"I know, but still… good boy."

Scott opens his eyes and looks at his mother, "I need to meet with my pack."

"Alright, if anything happens with Deaton I'll let you know."

_\-------_

Erica watches as Scott paces back and forth in front of the fireplace. His motorcycle boots making an oddly comforting sound as the move across the floor. The girl's eyes fall over to Stiles and Lydia on the couch, Stiles' arm is around the girl whose face is pale and void of any expression.

Over on the loveseat are Nolan and Jackson, Nolan picking at a string on his black work pants and Jackson watching him completely enchanted. Erica wasn't sure what it was about Nolan that Jackson found so appealing, she just knew Nolan was lucky to have someone so enthralled by him. She envied that.

"Sorry," Camilla says as she and Isaac come into the living room, "we were, uh, indisposed."

"We were having sex," Isaac says territorially. He scowls at Scott, but Scott is too busy pacing to notice, "where's Derek?"

Erica shrugs, "I don't know. I haven't seen him since we left for Diablo Valley. He left a note on the fridge that said 'I'm going,' and I haven't heard from him since. Knowing Derek though, he's probably somewhere with a bottle of bourbon sulking."

Isaac sits down on the couch beside Stiles and Camilla falls into his lap without a moment's hesitation. The dark haired girl runs her fingers through Isaac's hair; apparently feeling need to show Scott that she was Isaac's as well.

Jackson leans up, his hand dancing on Nolan's back as he clears his throat and asks, "McCall, what's the deal? Are you going to tell us what we're all doing here or are we just supposed to guess based on your pacing?"

"Don't," Nolan whispers to Jackson, the werewolf doesn't remove his hand from Nolan's back though and it becomes clear to everyone that he meant don't be rude to Scott.

"Uh, Scott," Stiles chimes in, "what are we doing here?"

Hearing Stiles' voice, Scott stops moving and faces the group of teenagers, "It's Deaton. Last night the Alpha Pack stormed the clinic and attacked him. He was in pretty bad shape when I saw him last."

"Is he going to be alright?" Erica asks.

"I don't know… but this is ridiculous. They've gone after Danny and Camilla… they attacked Derek behind the diner. Who knows whose next. It could be my mom or Lydia's mom… it could be Nolan."

"Thanks for including me, Scott," Nolan says flatly.

"Sorry, but… it could be."

"So what are we supposed to do?" Erica asks, "As someone who knows firsthand how easy it is for them to kill, I don't think we can just dive headfirst into a fight with them. Our numbers are matched werewolf-wise with Derek gone… and only one of us is an Alpha."

"She's right," Jackson agrees, "it's a suicide mission."

"I could… I could talk to the hunters," Camilla suggests. "There are tons of them in town right now for my dad's wedding. I'm sure they'd be willing to take out Deucalion and his twin bitches. Of course, selling them on becoming allies with this pack may prove to be difficult."

"We aren't killers," Scott says, "stress that when you talk to them."

"If you think we need to I could talk to my dad," Stiles adds, "I mean, I don't want him in the line of fire of the Psycho Pack, but if he's potentially in danger anyway he might as well be in danger by helping protect the rest of the town."

"There might be something in one of my dad's books about how to disarm an Alpha of his or her abilities," Nolan mentions, "it's a long shot, it really is, but I could at least look."

"Excellent. That's all really great guys."

"I'll scream," Lydia mutters, "if anyone is going to die… I'll scream."

"So we all keep our ear open for your death cry," Isaac remarks, "that's easy enough."

Scott looks down, "We can't go gentle anymore. If Camilla can get the hunters on our side we go in guns a-blazin'. Just sitting around hoping these guys are just going to go away isn't working, I don't want anyone else getting hurt."

The group all share a nod, a silent agreement that the Alphas have to be stopped moving through them. It's Jackson and Nolan who get up and leave first, Nolan having a shift at the JavaPit. Camilla and Isaac leave next, saying goodbye to Erica, Stiles and Lydia, but pointedly not Scott.

When Stiles and Lydia leave though, they leave with a metaphorical dark cloud with them. As the couple walks down the front porch steps of the Hale's, Lydia's mind slips back into the dark place it had been resting since her return form Diablo Valley. Images dance in her mind of death and pain. She hears screams in her mind and they terrify her.

The strawberry blonde is so wrapped up in her mind that she doesn't even notice she's in Stiles' jeep until the boy starts the engine.

"Lydia," Stiles asks softly, "is everything alright?"

That's when the girl breaks down. Her walls crash down around her and she's crying. Hot tears pour from her eyes and sobs fall from her mouth. She wraps her arms around herself as she starts to shake and accepts Stiles' hug when he offers it. The two sit in the front seat of the jeep for a moment before Lydia is able to form any words.

"Allison," is all that leaves the girl's lips.

Stiles strokes her arm and asks, "You're missing her?"

"No," Lydia replies, "I can hear her. I can hear her in my head, I can hear her screaming. I can hear her begging for my help and crying out in pain. She needs me and I don't know how… I can't… there's no way I can help her."

"You hear her? How is that possible?"

"I don't know," Lydia sobs, "it must be a banshee thing. I don't know any of what I can do, all I know is that I can't get Allison's screaming out of my head."

"How long has this been going on?"

"Since Saturday night at that frat party," Lydia replies, "it wasn't so loud at first, but now it's… it's totally overwhelming."

Stiles is silent now, and allows Lydia to cry into his chest, his hand squeezing the long braid down her back at intervals. It's comforting to Lydia that Stiles is there with her in that moment; she's wanted all week to tell someone about Allison but couldn't find the courage.

After a minute or two Lydia's crying subsides and Stiles asks, "Are you going to be okay?"

_helplydiapleaseohgodhelpthishurtsheshurtingmehelpmewhywontyoudosomethinghelpheeeeeelplydiapleasegetscottandhelpmepleaseithurtsithurtstheyrehurtingmepleasehelpmepleasehelphelphelpahhhhhhhhhhelphelphelpmelydiapleasegodhelpmeineedyourhelplydiaahhhhelphelpme_

Allison's cries play over and over in her mind, but the girl plasters on a weak smile and replies, "I'm going to be fine."

_\-------_

The sleek Porsche moves around the corner and turns to go down 1st Street. Nolan watches as people walking down the street zip past him and he focuses his gaze on Jackson who looks at him from the corner of his eye and asks, "What?"

Nolan swallows hard and smiles coyly, "This is weird."

"What is?" Jackson chuckles.

"Us. We're weird. I'm riding in a Porsche, that's weird. The fact that you're smoking hot and want to be with me is weird. The fact that you love me is weird, there's a lot of weird going on in my life at the moment."

"I told you, I'm not in lo-"

"You backpedaling over your words, that's also weird."

"You're a pain in the ass."

Nolan smirks, "And you love me anyway."

Jackson chuckles and takes another turn to get down to Bell Boulevard, where JavaPit sat snugly between Just Desserts Bakery and Empty Nest Gifts. As the car begins to slow and inevitably parks, Nolan feels a sinking in his stomach at having to part from Jackson.

"Are you going to need a ride home?" Jackson asks with a soft smile.

"I could just walk," Nolan replies, "I love a good late night walk. If I didn't take late night walks I wouldn't know that you're a werewolf."

"What time should I be here?"

Nolan smiles, "I get off at six."

Jackson leans forward and connects his lips with Nolan's, his hand coming up to caress the boy's soft cheek. When he pulls away, eyes still shut, he softly says, "I'll see you then."

Nolan opens his eyes and without further comment, opens the car door and steps onto the crowded street. Many older couples make eyes at him, probably from having caught a glimpse of him kissing another boy, but he doesn't care, he's content.

Plus, thanks to that kiss, he's late for work.

_\-------_

Aiden takes the stun gun and tazes Derek three times while Ethan takes the cane and smacks it over Derek's already bleeding stomach.

The twins laugh as Derek screams out in pain.

"I think it's time for buzzsaw," Ethan beams.

Aiden laughs and leans in close to Derek to whisper, "If you think it's bad now… just wait until the full moon."

_\-------_

"Can you at least let her finish?" Ron asks the room full of hunters.

A red haired man with a thick beard shouts, "What she's asking goes against everything we've ever been taught, Argent. So no, we won't let her finish."

"Do you all not understand that McCall's pack isn't feral?" Chris asks, "These Alphas are the people our fathers dealt with, they're dangerous and evil. By allying ourselves with McCall's pack we're just firming the alliance we have to humans."

"No," Graham snaps, "A werewolf is a werewolf. Feral or not, our code is 'We hunt those who hunt us.'"

"Scott's pack isn't hunting us, you close minded, tiny dicked moron," Camilla shouts, "Scott's pack is doing the exact opposite, they're trying to help us. And the code we Argents go by is 'We help those who cannot help themselves.'"

"There also isn't any proof that McCall's pack has hunted us," Frank, Graham's dad, says.

"That's not true," Graham laughs, "one of McCall's betas, Derek Hale, bit Victoria Argent two years ago. He's the reason we lost one of our hunters. If anything, I say we wipe out McCall's pack."

"Can someone please let this idiot out of my house," Camilla asks, "ya know Graham, you used to be just slightly unlikeable but know I feel like punching you in the face literally every time you open your mouth."

From a chair beside the TV, Leilani says, "I think we should help."

Graham rolls his eyes and crosses his arms.

"Let's vote," Ron suggests. "All in favor of helping McCall, raise your hand."

All three Argents raise their hand; two people sitting on the couch do as well, followed by three people against the wall and Leilani. A total of nine hunters in favor of helping Scott and the rest of his pack get rid of the Alphas.

"All opposed," Graham snaps back.

Graham and his father raise their hands, another person on the couch raises his hand, a short blonde woman beside the TV raises her hand, five men with large quantities of facial hair, and two girls who were very clearly together. A total of eleven hunters opposed to helping Scott.

"This is bullshit," Camilla groans, crossing her arms across her Guns n' Roses tank top, she locks eyes with Graham and glares at him.

"You do realize," Chris chimes in, "that McCall's Pack has done more to protect this town than it has to hurt it. That pack has taken out a Darach, a Kanima – that my own father was master of – a murderous Alpha, and Malum Radix. What makes them undeserving of our assistance?"

"If they can face Malum Radix and survive," the blonde woman says, "then they don't need our help dealin' with three Alpha werewolves."

"Not all of us survived Malum," Camilla corrects, her expression going stony.

Chris wraps his arm around his niece and squeezes her tightly.

"We aren't allying ourselves with werewolves," Frank says sternly, "end of discussion."

_\-------_

Scott sits down in the grass and places the three red roses down in front of him. He takes his finger and traces the letters on the headstone in front of him. Shutting his eyes, he imagines Allison wrapping her arms around his neck and laughing, her nose crinkling her eyes.

He opens his eyes and looks at the slab of marble before him.

"I miss you," he says to the headstone.

When he doesn't receive a reply he feels a tightening in his chest.

"There's a lot going on right now. The Alphas are back and really messing things up, so that's a bummer… but uh, Camilla is happy. She misses you a lot, but she's happy. I… I sorta kissed her, but it was more because I missed you than because I wanted to. So, I'm sorry about that."

Again, no reply.

"God, I really wish you were here. This would all be so much easier if you were here, you'd have plans. You'd know what we should do… I'm just – I'm clueless. I'm floundering here, Allison. I'm completely lost without you and I want you to come back. Lydia wants you back too, she misses you a lot. Maybe more than I do, if that's possible."

A breeze picks up and sends some strands of grass flying in Scott's direction.

"Dammit," Scott mutters as tears begin to fall from his eyes, "dammit, I wish you were here. I need you Allison. I need you here and I don't understand why… why did you have to die? I don't understand why you died. It's not right."

ALLISON REBECCA ARGENT

BELOVED DAUGHTER AND FRIEND

MARCH 17th 1995 – NOVEMBER 19th 2013

"I miss you, Allison."

_\-------_

Lydia takes a bite of her chocolate chip muffin and watches as Nolan pours an old man a cup of coffee. The man hands Nolan a twenty and tells him to keep the change, Nolan smiles at him and walks back over to where Lydia sits at the counter.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Nolan asks the girl, "You look like you've been awake for a year."

_lydiahelpmegetnolanandtellhimtohelpyouhelpmeineedtogetoutofhereihurttheyrehurtingmehelpmelydiapleasepleasepleasehelpahhhhhhhhhelpmelydiaithurtsithurtsithurtshelphelphelpmehelpmegetmeoutofhereidontwantobehereanymorehelpmelydianolanscottstilescamillachelphelpahh_

"I'm just fine," Lydia replies tensely, "You know Stiles, he loves movie marathons and they tend to run late into the night. I don't have the heart to tell him no and I also can't fall asleep when a movie is playing, the movement of everything on the screen makes the light flash."

"How are you two?"

"We're good," Lydia says with a forced smile, "taking things slow, but we're good. He's such a fantastic guy, Nolan. I don't know how I managed to get someone as sweet as him to fall for me, but I'm glad I did."

"You underestimate your charm, Lydia."

With a forced laugh, Lydia asks, "How are you and Jackson?"

"Confusing. I don't know what we are; like we're both into each other… he said he loves me – like yeah, what? Like he told me he loved me but we aren't official and I've never been in a relationship before. I'd never even been kissed until Jackson kissed me… and I think I might love him back. Is that crazy?"

"Yes."

"O-oh… well, I wasn't planning on professing my love for him or anything…"

"It is crazy, but you're talking to a banshee right now and you're dating, but not dating a werewolf. Everything is crazy."

"So crazy is normal?"

"Crazy is normal."

Nolan's eyes widen suddenly and the boy's face starts to flush.

"What's going on?" the girl asks, confused at her friend's sudden red face.

"Jackson is here," Nolan replies, "he's here and I just got that weird panic sweat."

"You've seen him a hundred times, why are you panicking?"

"Because I love him and I want to tell him that but I can't!"

Lydia rolls her eyes, "Why can't you tell him?"

"Because, Lydia, we aren't really even together and I don't want to seem like I'm saying it because he just said it…. It's complicated, alright? Oh crap is he coming over here?"

The strawberry blond whips her head in the direction Nolan is looking a nods, "Yeah, I'm guessing he's here to see you too."

Nolan's eyes widen again and he begins to laugh nervously.

Jackson makes his way across the coffee shop and comes over to the counter in what seems like no time at all to Nolan. The werewolf smiles brightly at the boy and then focuses his gaze on Lydia and asks, "Are you sick or something? You look like crap."

Lydia shakes her head, "Wow, thanks. I'm fine, but since I look so awful I don't think I can pay for my muffin… you've got it though, don't you Jackson? Excellent. Nolan, I'll see you tomorrow for lunch."

As the girl walks away,  _Toxic_  by Britney Spears begins to play in the coffee shop. Nolan swallows a laugh as he beams at Jackson, "What's up?"

"It's six, I'm here to pick you up babe," the werewolf answers.

Nolan's smile quickly fades, "Oh damn, I forgot to text you. Rachel, the girl who's supposed to take over for me, has the stomach flu. I'm here until ten now, I'm sorry… you probably have something else to do than sit around and wait for me."

"Actually I don't, I was going to take you to YoFroYo after I picked you up and then I thought we could just hang. I'm more than content with just watching you work though."

"Seriously?"

"I may need a little something to keep me sated though…"

Nolan smirks and leans across the counter and gives the boy a soft kiss. When he pulls away he asks, "Sated enough?"

Jackson bites his lip, "I was actually talking about just getting a Hazelnut Cooler…"

"Oh… oh, wow yeah I can get you one of those," Nolan stammers, "wow, yeah no, I'll just get your cooler."

"I prefer a kiss over a coffee any day."

_\-------_

Melissa steps into the room with a chart in her hand a quickly records Deaton's stats. His blood pressure has risen significantly; the nurse walks over to the bed and examines the stitches on the man's forehead, going over to the counter to get some gauze to apply to them for the night.

After retrieving the supplies, Melissa heads back over to the man and begins to apply the gauze when Deaton's eyes shoot open.

Startled, Melissa takes a step back and puts her hand over her chest.

"Where am I?" Deaton asked fearfully.

"You're at the hospital," the woman says, as her own heart rate begins to slow, she moves back over to Deaton, "do you remember what happened to you?"

"The twins came and attacked me because I'd found out what they'd done and was going to tell Scott about it."

"What did they do?"

"Does no one know yet?" Deaton questions, confusion written clearly on his face.

"Know what?"

"The Alpha Pack… they have Derek."

_\-------_


	22. Nothing Lasts Forever (4x10)

Erica traces her finger around the edge of her glass, her werewolf ears picking up on the small, high-pitched sound it makes.

Her eyes are set on the man across from her who was currently wiping his mouth on his napkin. Normally, she would be all about a man as attractive as Ben sitting across from her, giving her the look he was giving her, but the blonde just wasn't feeling it. Mostly because it seemed more like an interrogation than a date.

"So you said that Camilla doesn't go to church or anything? Do you know if she did before she moved here? Just curious," Ben asks, making Erica clench her teeth at probably his 152nd question about everyone and everything in her life.

"No clue. We don't really talk about things like that," Erica drones on to him, praying that the disaster of a second date would be over soon. She knew something was fishy with him the first date, but she had decided to give him another chance. Big mistake.

"I see. Well do you think—"

Before Ben can finish what is probably another prying question, Erica's phone rings out loudly and the girl has to hide the smile that was itching to appear on her lips.

"Sorry, I'd better take this," Erica says causally, placing her green cloth napkin on the table and smoothing down her black dress as she stands up.

When she feels a safe enough distance away from Ben's unquenchable curiosity, she hits the green button on her phone.

Before she can mutter a greeting, Scott is quick to deliver news that makes her heart ache.

"Derek was captured by the Alphas."

Erica's stomach drops when she hears his name, and it sinks even farther when she finds out he had been taken by the wolves that had killed her and harmed nearly everyone she knew.

"Where are they?" she manages to get out, her hand gripping onto the back of an empty chair towards the back of the restaurant.

"Deaton thinks they're at the bank again, he remembers hearing something about it," Scott quickly informs her, urgency in his voice.

"Okay, let's meet up. Now. We probably don't have much time," Erica responds, her voice wavering at the thought of what the Alpha pack would do to Derek.

"Come to my house, Stiles is here and I'm just about to call Isaac."

Erica chirps back a response and quickly hangs up. In an instant she is back at the table grabbing her purse and shrugging on her jacket.

"Is everything okay?" Ben asks, standing up with wide eyes.

"Yeah, I just need to go. Friend trouble," Erica says unapologetically, though she tries to mask the worry in her voice.

"Need any help? I am a cop," he offers, reaching for his own jacket.

"No, thanks. It's just Camilla and Isaac fighting again, nothing big," she lies, beginning to walk away from the table. "Thanks for dinner, I'm sorry, but I have to go."

The blonde quickly moves across the restaurant floor, her heels making a hard sound on the thin carpet.

"I'll call you," Ben yells after her, watching her walk away.

When he sees that she is gone, he pulls out a small, red notebook and begins writing things down. When he finishes, he glances at his words and his mouth sets in a grim line.

"What the hell is going on with you, Erica Reyes?" he asks no one, his eyes locked on a big question mark he had written.

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Camilla knocks on the door to her boyfriend's loft incessantly, the bracelet on her wrist making a small "ping" as it hit the door too, swishing around.

"Isaac, let's go. We're already late," she moans through the door, her hand still knocking.

Suddenly the door opens, making the girl jump back a bit. In the doorway stands Isaac, clad in jeans and a Metallica t-shirt.

"Though I love your choice in bands, that outfit is not going to work so I suggest you run your cute little werewolf ass back to your room and change into the suit I picked out for you," Camilla snaps, her patience running thin, as made clear by the tapping of her foot and the crossing of her arms.

"Babe, I'm really sorry but I can't go. D—"

"Ex-fucking-cuse me?" Camilla spits out, cutting Isaac off.

"Camilla, Derek was taken by the Alphas and we have to go after him. We don't know how long he's been there, or if he's even alive," Isaac tells her, taking her hand into his own.

The brunette snatches her hand back, one of her rings scraping against Isaac.

"Can't you just let Scott take this one? He's an Alpha too, I'm sure he can handle it," Camilla pouts, rage evident in her voice.

"Baby, you know he needs my help. I'm—"

"Save it," Camilla holds up a hand and runs her tongue over her teeth, selecting her next words carefully. "You would rather go save some asshole who's never done really anything for you ever than come to my father's rehearsal dinner which he is currently late to as he is sitting in his car in your stupid ass parking lot waiting for you to get your stupid ass outside but little does he know your stupid ass isn't even dressed and isn't even going?"

Isaac opens his mouth to respond, but Camilla turns away, her hair whipping over her shoulder.

"Save it, Lahey. I'm late," she says coldly, leaving him with his mouth open and another apology on his tongue.

_\-------_

Scott and Erica stand beside Stiles in the McCall's dining room looking over the intricate blueprints of the Beacon Hills First National Bank. It had been nearly a year since any of them had been in that bank, and for Erica the very thought of that hellish vault makes chills run down her spine.

"Are we sure he's even there?" the blonde asks, "Because I swear to shit if I march my ass into that joint, ignoring the PTSD that will no doubt arise when I enter, and Derek's nowhere to be found I will lose my marbles on both of your little teenage asses."

"You're really a peach, you know that?" Stiles quips.

Erica blows a raspberry at the boy and crosses her arms across her chest firmly.

Scott shakes his head, "He's in there. Deaton said his sister helped secure him in the place."

"Why haven't we killed that bitch yet?" Erica asks.

"Because, every time she does something against us she does two things to make it up to us," Scott answers, "and besides, Deaton is part of this pack and that makes Ms. Morell part of the pack by relation."

Suddenly, Isaac enters the room. His jaw is clenched and he sighs heavily before he says, "I hope you three are happy. Camilla is pissed as hell that I'm not going to be at the rehearsal because we have to save Derek's ass for the hundredth time. Seriously, if he isn't boning a Darach he's getting kidnapped."

"Give him a goddamn break," Erica snaps, "he was in both of those situations because somehow he found himself having to protect his pack. I love Camilla, but homegirl needs to get over herself. It's the rehearsal, not the real deal."

"Plus, you'll get makeup sex," Stiles beams.

"Dude…" Scott scolds.

"He's got a point. Makeup sex with Camilla is the best sex with Camilla… and that's saying something because my girlfriend is a sex goddess," Isaac retorts, locking his eyes with Scott's as he speaks so as to let his Alpha know that Camilla is his.

"That's… that's great."

"Yeah, not at all TMI," Stiles says sarcastically, "Let's focus on the break in shall we? What you guys need to do is get in through the back entrance and then…"

_\-------_

Derek's swollen eyes just barely see one of the twins take a switch blade and move it toward his face. He's in such constant pain that when the boy pulls the knife down his left cheek he doesn't even feel it.

"God, if only that little blonde could see you now," the boy says, it's now Derek knows that the twin doing the torturing is Aiden, "I tell ya Derek… if Kali hadn't been such a hostage-hog the things I would've done to that girl."

"Shut… your… mouth…" the hurt wolf manages.

"Oh, what? You don't want me to talk about how I would've given it to your girl in any possible way I could? You don't want to have images of my dick sliding into her again and again, her screaming out as I have my way with her? You not into that?"

With all the strength Derek has he spits at the Alpha and smiles to himself when he hears Aiden curse his aim.

"You sick fuck," a second voice calls, this he assumes is Ethan's, "if Deucalion hadn't told us you had to stay alive…"

"You'd be dead as a doornail," Aiden finishes, "did you get the blowtorch, bro?"

Ethan chuckles menacingly, "You bet your ass I did."

Derek can smell the flame of the blowtorch and the scalding heat just before he gratefully loses consciousness.

_\-------_

"Mother fucking werewolves have ruined every event in this wedding so far, stupid fuckers," Camilla mumbles under her breath, her heels clicking on the pavement outside of the church where the wedding would be held. Her father and Susan were a few steps ahead of her, rushing to get inside, and Camilla was grumbling to herself behind them.

Finally the family makes it into the building and they hurry over to where Nolan's dad, who was currently checking his watch, stands.

"Marcel, I am so sorry we're late!" Susan cries out, her hands held up in defeat.

The man Camilla had only seen a handful of times smiles a tight little smile and assures Susan it was okay.

The woman breathes out a sigh of relief, but still feels guilty.

"I just can't believe I'm late to my own rehearsal dinner, and I just feel so bad because you're stepping in for our minister and I'm making such a horrible impression…" Susan chatters on about her woes and Marcel doesn't say a word, obviously not caring that she was ten minutes late.

Marcel was the only ordained minister available on such short notice after Deaton, who was originally going to marry Ron and Susan, was injured and unable to perform his duties.

After Susan finishes rambling, everyone takes their places and the group runs through the wedding ceremony, although without Georgie, who was running late as well, without a hitch. With that done, the wedding party moves on to another part of the church where food and drinks were waiting for them.

When Camilla enters the room, she spots Nolan at a table, probably here because of his father. She relaxes a little and walks over to where her friend sits, and the boy instantly looks up, a smile blooming on his face.

"Hey," he greets her, shoving his phone into his pocket. "How did things go?"

"Well," Camilla answers, pulling out one of the folding chairs next to him and sitting down, "after Susan finally stopped apologizing for being late things went smoothly. Except for Susan crying, but that's normal."

Nolan chuckles and runs his hands over the vinyl tablecloth absent-mindedly.

"Where's Isaac?" he inquires.

Camilla grunts and rolls her eyes, "Saving Private Derek."

Nolan's brow creases, and Camilla explains the situation to him, her anger returning.

"So now I have to spend all night making up lies to my family members as to why my boyfriend could not attend this evening's events," Camilla says snappily. "At least you're here."

Suddenly, a hand reaches down and sets a glass of water down on the table in front of Nolan, and Camilla's eyes widen. She could recognize those feminine hands anywhere.

"But you brought Jackson," she finishes her last sentence with fake-happiness. Her hazel eyes dart up to the aforementioned boy and glare at him.

"Hello to you too, Camilla," he says as sweetly as he can mange, taking the seat on the other side of Nolan.

"And what made you think it was okay to show up to my family's rehearsal dinner, hmmm? Got bored watching Dancing With The Stars so you decided to crash?"

Jackson chuckles, "Actually, Nolan invited me. And since it is his father ordaining, I'd say it's okay that I'm here."

"Well I'd say that you're a pansy ass fruit cake," Camilla says quietly, mocking Jackson's tone.

"Oh boy," Nolan comments, but not about Camilla and Jackson's little verbal slay. Jackson soon notices the reason behind Nolan's words and he laughs out loud.

Camilla follows their eyes and turns around, noticing right away what the big deal was.

Making her way across the floor was Georgie, huffing from obviously hurrying to get there, with her hair a big frizzy mess, wearing the exact same dress as Camilla.

"Quick, someone call Perez so we can find out Who Wore It Best!" Jackson chimes in, not bothering to hide his smirk.

"I need a fucking drink," Camilla mutters, standing up from the table, her purse tightly clutched in her hand.

_\-------_

Lydia's slender fingers dance over the ivory keys of the piano. She'd been playing since she was six and often times played when she had a lot on her mind… in this instance the thing on her mind was Allison.

The metronome that sits on top of the piano swings back and forth as Lydia plays "Arabesques" by Claude Debussy. It's one of her favorites and although she doesn't need it, Lydia likes to stare at the music sheet before her.

All seems well until Lydia hears an odd noise. She stops playing for a second and then, sure enough, she hears the sound again. Almost as though a person was shouting… but in miniature form… and it comes straight from the metronome.

"What the…" Lydia drawls as she leans forward to get a better grasp of what she's hearing. Her hand slips on the keys and suddenly music no longer comes from the keys… instead it is Allison's horrified screams.

Help. Me. Help. Me. Help. Me. Help. Me. The metronome clicks the two words over and over again. Lydia's in shock now and her hands travel down to the lower keys. She presses one and hears the scream of Peter Hale. The sound makes her blood run cold.

Pressing another low key, Lydia hears Boyd screaming two.

She presses one of the black ivories and Allison's voice rings out, "HELP US LYDIAAAAAAA!"

In one swift second, voices of hundreds of people fill Lydia's head.

_Helpmelydiaineedhelpplease_

_nohelpmeineedit_

_they'rekillingmeagain_

_mykidsneedme_

_helpme_

_ididin'tdeservethis_

_imonlysevenimissmymommy_

_HELPUS_

_whywon'tyouhelpus_

_dosomethingyouidiotgirl_

_youregoodforNOTHING_

_weneedyoutosaveus_

_weneedyourhelp_

HELP. ME. HELP. ME. HELP. ME.

_DosomethingLYDIAPLEASE_

_imsoalone_

_ineedvengancetheseidiotmortalsdeservetodieandiwanttokillthem_

_LYDIAAAAAAAHELPHELPHELPAHTHEYREHURTINGMEGETSCOTTANDHELPME_

_lydialydialydialydialydiaLYDIAHELPUSLYDIAlydialydialydiaHELPHELPHELP_

HELP. ME.

_Lydiapleaseiminsomuchpainhelpme_

HELP. ME. HELP. ME.

Lydia's head feels like it's full of water. Her eyes clench shut and there's nothing she can do when the scream leaves her throat. As soon as the shriek escapes her lips the voices begin to quiet and she feels better.

The girl's green eyes open and she stares at the paper in front of her. The music notes look like faces screaming. Her eyes shift from the notes to the keys and she sees crimson droplets in front of her, she raises an eyebrow and then brings her hand to her nose. She feels the sticky wetness of blood.

Without meaning to, Lydia screams again.

_\-------_

Erica tries to swallow but her throat is too dry and tight as Stiles parks his Jeep down the street from the bank they believed Derek was at.

Noting her discomfort, Scott reaches from the front seat to put his hand on her knee and squeezes.

"Hey, we're in control now. They can't hurt you, not with all of us here," he comforts her.

The blonde nods and closes her eyes, taking a deep breath. The bank brought back all kinds of memories she didn't like to relive.

Scott removes his hand and faces forward again, but from next to her, Isaac smiles and grabs her hand.

"Okay," Scott says, making Erica open her eyes and ground herself, "We don't know where they're keeping him, but we know the bank pretty well. I'm betting he's in the vault. I'm guessing they chose the bank knowing we'd come after them. They wanted us to find them. They're waiting for us."

"Yippee," Stiles says sarcastically, his hands gripping the steering wheel even though the Jeep was off.

"Everyone remember the plan?" Scott asks. The group nods and in a little over a minute, they are on the move.

They soon find out that Scott was right, the Alpha pack was waiting for them. Aiden and Ethan, that is.

Stiles stays behind in the Jeep, ready to drive away if they need to, much to his disappointment. The three werewolves, however, dive right into battle.

They get into the bank with no trouble, but the twins are ready, and Ethan swipes at Isaac, getting his chest. Isaac growls and swipes back, missing by an inch. Ethan takes the opportunity and strikes again, this time knocking Isaac into one of the concrete walls, which crumbles partially from the impact.

Farther into the building, Scott and Erica spot the vault, guarded by Aiden. Aiden looks at Erica with a smile on his face.

"Too bad you didn't get here earlier," he tells Erica. "You could've heard your little boyfriend whimpering, moaning, begging us to stop. You could've seen his blood all over my hands."

Erica growls and inches closer, only making Aiden's smile bigger.

"Woah, did your Beta get a little braver, Scott?" he laughs. "Don't you remember what happened last time you tried to fight back? Oh, wait. Maybe you don't, considering you were dead right after it happened."

This time, it is Scott that growls, his roar echoing throughout the building.

"Oh, Scott, how kind of you to be so protective over your Beta," calls a familiar voice from behind him.

Turning around quickly, Scott spots Deucalion leaning against a wall.

Deucalion caught Erica's attention, proving to be a mistake when she feels Aiden's claws rip across her arm.

Anger surges through her and she turns around to face him, instantly meeting his fist, knocking her down.

"Let's go see your boyfriend, huh?" Aiden teases, dragging the girl into the vault, leaving Scott and Deucalion behind.

When they get inside, Erica sees Derek slumped against the floor. She doesn't get to look at him for more than a few seconds before Aiden throws her onto the floor, her knees slamming into the concrete.

"Oh I bet Derek loves you when you get down on your knees, huh, Derek?" he says slyly, walking closer to her.

"Fuck off," she spits out, blood dripping from her mouth.

Aiden responds by kicking her and sending her crashing into a wall.

He quickly moves over to her and grabs her hair, yanking her head up to be level with his.

"Oh, this brings back memories. Of you, crying and begging for help like the little bitch that you are."

This sets Erica off, and the girl shoves her claws into Aiden's abdomen, making him lose his grip on her hair. She yanks them out and takes control. The boy tries to fight back, and he gets a few hits in, but not enough to make Erica falter. Pure anger and hatred fuel her, and she unleashes hell on the werewolf.

Blood pours from Aiden's wounds, and Erica doesn't stop. She pounds her fist into his head over and over and over again. Scott and Deucalion eye each other and eye the fight at the same time.

"Sounds like Erica has a little fight in her after all. I wouldn't have guessed," Deucalion retorts with a laugh, listening to the sounds from the vault.

Scott fills with anger and rushes towards Deucalion.

The transition in Scott's face happens instantaneously. He shifts from regular, lacrosse playing Scott McCall to his wolf form but then something else happens. It's something that hasn't happened before and that Deucalion has a front row seat for.

Scott's eyes, already red, begin to grow and his face goes from slightly covered hair into something much more animal.

It's a face that Deucalion has seen only once before, it's the face of a True Alpha.

Scott's fists slam into the other Alpha's face over and over. It happens with so much force and so suddenly that Deucalion can't even fight back. Stepping back, Deucalion wipes the blood from his mouth with his forearm, backing away with a limp, his eyes glued on Scott.

"Call your bitch off, and we'll be leaving," Deucalion says in a raspy voice.

Scott eyes him for a moment, his heart pounding, that anger still inside him.

"Erica!" he yells loud enough for her to hear. "Let Aiden go!"

Erica must have sensed the demand in his voice, because a few seconds later, Aiden crawls out of the vault, collapsing just before the exit, his blood smeared on the floor.

Deucalion slowly moves over to the boy's body and he puts his arm under the boy's shoulders, still watching Scott, still waiting for that evil part of him to come back.

His eyes never leaving the True Alpha, Deucalion leaves the building, and soon, Isaac joins Scott, a little battered, but not as bad as Aiden.

"Where's Erica?" Isaac asks, huffing.

Scott points over to the vault, his eyes on the ground, trying to control the beast inside him that wanted nothing more than to kill kill kill.

Isaac notices Scott's oddness, but ignores it, rushing over to the vault to find Derek.

When he steps inside, he sees Erica crouching beside Derek, who was barely able to sit up on his own. He also sees what appears to be gallons of blood all over the floor and walls.

"Oh my God, is this—"

"It's not all his," Erica responds in a somber voice before he can finish. "A lot of it was Aiden's."

"Wait, does that mean you—"

"She kicked his ass," Derek says with a soft and struggling voice. He lifts his head up and looks right at Erica, who looks directly into his eyes.

Scott finally enters the vault, but it's clear that something was bothering him.

"Guys, let's get the hell out of here."

_\-------_

After Stiles takes him back to Scott's to get his car, Isaac races to his loft, showers, and puts on the suit Camilla had intended for him to wear.

It is now 9 o'clock, two hours after the rehearsal had started, and Isaac jogs to the doors of the church, hoping everyone was still there.

Using his keen hearing, he heads to a room he suspects is where his girlfriend and the wedding party are, noting the peals of laughter and the clinking of forks on ceramic plates.

Isaac walks into the room, his hands stuffed into his pockets, and he instantly spots Camilla at a table, alone, except for a baby in her arms.

He walks a bit closer, but not enough for her to notice, and he watches as she plays with the baby, making the cute little thing smile and gurgle like a happy baby does.

A smile spreads across his face as he watches her interact with the baby. It fills his heart with joy to see someone who could kill a werewolf handle a baby with such care and love. He knew Camilla was a softie on the inside, but he didn't always get to see it in such a natural form.

After another minute or two, he walks over and stands beside the table, the smile still on his face.

Camilla glances up at him but looks back at the baby, speaking to it.

"Look who finally decided to show up! My boyfriend! Isn't he a cute little devil?" she coos, using the baby to communicate that she was still angry. The baby laughs and smiles.

"Yeah, he's cute. But he's also in a lot of trouble!" she says in a singsong voice to the baby, who was loving every minute of it.

Then, looking over at Isaac, she says, "Aren't you going to sit down?"

"Am I allowed to, your highness?" he asks jokingly, pulling out the chair next to her and moving it close.

"Who's this?" he asks, sticking his finger out for the baby to grab onto and hold.

"This is Susan's sister's baby. So, my cousin, I guess? Yeah, mommy was a little drunky-poo, so I had to take this wittle cutie so we wouldn't have a baby-drinking-vodka incident," Camilla answers, still talking in a baby voice.

"How very responsible of you," Isaac replies, watching the baby who was now fascinated with Isaac. "Hi, there cutie."

Camilla looks at her boyfriend and smiles, feeling happier than she had all night.

"Want to hold her?" she asks. "I think she likes you."

Isaac glances at Camilla, unsure of what to do.

"Here," she says, handing him the baby. "It's easy. Just hold her the way you would hold someone's neck if you were going to choke them to death, but without the death grip. Just firm enough to keep a good grip on her."

Isaac slowly takes the baby from her hands and smiles when the handoff is successful.

"I can't believe you compared holding a baby to choking someone," he mutters, amused.

"Well, I had to find a way to describe it in terms you might understand."

Isaac chuckles, "Our lives are kind of messed up, huh?"

"Just a little," Camilla agrees. "She's so lucky. She doesn't know a thing about all the hell in life. I hope she never does, either."

"It's sort of inevitable… I just hope her parents don't lock her in a freezer or kill themselves right in front of her or die of cancer. I hope her only problems in life are that the hottest boy in school has a crush on her best friend."

"If only life were that simple…" Camilla trails off, staring at the baby but not really looking at her.

The two are silent for a few moments, thoughts running through their heads.

"So how'd it go tonight?" she asks after a while. She had received a text from Scott saying that they saved Derek and he would be okay, but she wanted more details.

"As good as it could have gone. Erica totally destroyed Aiden, though. I didn't know she had that much fight in her," Isaac shakes his head in bewilderment.

"She really loves Derek," Camilla states.

"Not as much as I love you."

Camilla bites down on her bottom lip and blushes a little bit. Even though she was used to it, it sometimes still gave her butterflies the way he looked at her and the things he said to her.

"I am sorry about tonight. But they needed me. I wasn't choosing them over you."

Camilla looks down, a bit ashamed of herself, "I know. I overreacted. And I'm sorry. I just… I don't know. I'm so sick of there always being a bad guy out there."

Just then, the baby started to whine a little, so Isaac hands her back to Camilla, not prepared to deal with crying babies just yet.

The baby instantly calms down, Camilla rocking it in her arms and shushing it in a gentle tone. Isaac watches in amazement how natural she looked with the baby.

"You're going to make a great mom someday, you know that?" he tells her, his eyes and his voice full of love.

Camilla looks up at him and smiles, "Someday. Not for a long while."

Out of the blue, a man walks up to them and offers to take the baby. Isaac learns that it is Susan's brother in law, the baby's father, Craig.

With the baby gone, there was nothing left to distract Isaac and Camilla from each other, and their hands instantly find the other's.

"You look gorgeous, by the way," Isaac reveals, his eyes shining.

"That suit looks sexy on you, I knew it would," Camilla replies, rubbing her hand on one of Isaac's knees.

"What do you say we go someplace a little more quiet?" Isaac offers, a hidden agenda in his words.

"Isaac Lahey, this is a church!" Camilla scolds playfully. "But then again, I've always wanted to do it in a church…"

The brunette barely finishes her sentence before Isaac jumps up, pulling Camilla up with him. She laughs as he pushes her playfully out of the room, his hands on her ass.

When they exit the room and enter the hallway, Camilla turns around and kisses Isaac, all her anger gone.

He returns the kiss and pushes her against a wall, holding her hands above her head. When they break apart, both breathing heavy, Camilla's eyes twinkle.

"This way," she guides him, pushing herself off the wall and pulling him deeper into the darkened church.

_\-------_

Nolan and Jackson step out of the Stonybrooke Church and into the balmy California night. The parking lot of the hotel is illuminated by security lights and the nearly full moon, the two walk past the rows of cars laughing about Georgie and Camilla wearing the same dress.

As the boys head out of the rehearsal dinner so do several other groups of people including a young married couple and their son. As Jackson and Nolan continue to laugh, Nolan's attention is drawn to the little boy being swung back and forth by his parents – a sickening sense of nostalgia settling over him. Not realizing it, Nolan stops walking and laughing altogether and is only pulled out of his mind when Jackson steps in front of his line of view.

"Are you okay?" The werewolf asks worriedly.

Nolan nods his head slowly, "Yeah. Yeah, just a lot on my mind… as usual."

"Care to share?"

Nolan absently itches the back of his neck and takes a few steps toward Jackson, resuming his walking. The two continue on toward the Porsche as Nolan says with an empty voice, "I miss my mom. Which is crazy, how can I miss someone I never knew? But I think… I think more than anything I miss the idea of her. The idea that one day she'd come home from the institution and be healthy and happy and be my mom."

"That makes sense," Jackson replies, "I can understand where you're coming from."

"What are you talking about? How can you understand that, your mom is probably waiting for you at home cuddled up next to your dad watching old episodes of  _Murder, She Wrote_ or  _Dallas_  or something."

Jackson chuckles, "I meant my real mom, babe."

"Louise Whittemore isn't your real mother?"

"No, she's my adoptive mother. I was adopted when I was a baby, my birth parents got into this really bad car accident and died… my mom was an incubator for a day before the doctors realized she was a lost cause and they took me out."

Nolan's eyes are wide as he said, "I had… I had no idea. I'm so sorry, Jackson."

"You didn't know, I never told you so… it's not really something I like to talk about. I never even told Lydia. In fact all the people that know are you, Scott, Stiles, and Erica – and those three only know because they did some digging back in my Kanima days."

"Did they think being a Lizard-Man was hereditary?"

Jackson shrugs as they finally reach the sleek Porsche, "I'm not really sure… anyway, my point is that even though you didn't really know your mother, even though you didn't have any real relationship with her it's one hundred percent okay for you to miss her. You miss the life with her you never had, and that's perfectly fine."

Nolan nods and takes a step toward the lacrosse player, wrapping his arms around him and burying his head into Jackson's chest, Nolan hugs him tightly and says, "Thank you."

Jackson hugs him back, "You're welcome."

The two stay like that for a minute before Nolan pulls away and kisses Jackson softly on the lips. As the auburn haired boy does so, Jackson can hear his heart race in his chest and chuckles at the nerves Nolan still has about being with him.

The boys don't move for a minute when out of the blue Jackson's cell phone rings, breaking the calming silence. Awkwardly, Jackson pulls his phone out of his suit pocket – not removing his arms from around Nolan. Upon seeing the name on his screen Jackson makes a confused expression before answering.

"Lydia… woah what? Yeah, yeah we'll be right over."

_\-------_

Stiles holds Lydia close to his chest on her bed for only a second more before Nolan and Jackson storm into the bedroom. The boys are dressed in black suits and look like they just stepped out of a catalogue and when Lydia's tear-producing eyes spot Jackson she yanks herself away from Stiles, off the bed, and into the werewolf's arms.

"What happened?" Nolan asks, trying his hardest to ignore the intense hug Jackson and Lydia are sharing.

"I'm not really sure. We rescued Derek from the Alphas and then I get this frantic call from Lydia that she's being like… banshee harassed. I came over as soon as I could but clearly all she needed was her ex-boyfriend's tender embrace," Stiles responds flatly.

Nolan now turns to see Lydia and Jackson in a tight hug. The girl's hands holding onto the back of Jackson's suit as though her life depended on it. For the two other boys in the room, the hug seemed fueled by something passionate – however to Lydia and Jackson it was more habitual than anything. The two had been together for so long, had held on to each other in good times and bad for so long that this hug was more of a flashback to the friendly parts of their relationship than it was to the romantic parts.

Stiles clears his throat noisily to get the two huggers' attention.

Slowly, Lydia pulls away from Jackson and smiles up at him, "Thanks for coming."

"You heard her? You could hear Allison?" Jackson asks swiftly.

"What?" Nolan asks, his eyes widening, "Allison was talking to you?"

Lydia shakes her head, "This wasn't talking, this was… this was screaming for help. These were desperate attempts of getting a life preserver. I've never heard Allison like this… but she wasn't the only one who was screaming for my help either."

"Wait there were more?" Stiles asks, getting up from the bed, "You didn't tell me that."

"It was several others. Boyd and Peter and… and that little girl, Jenny, who was in first grade with us and was hit by the car and died…" Lydia lists, "it was every dead person in Beacon Hills. They were all in my head. Screaming, begging for me to help them."

"That's horrifying," Nolan says quietly.

Jackson wraps his arm around the boy and asks, "Has anything like that ever happened before?"

Lydia shakes her strawberry blonde head.

Stiles puts a hand on her shoulder, "Maybe your banshee powers are just, like, growing or something. None of us really know what being a banshee entails, none of us know if you're just a screamer or if you're going to like… going into a trance and tell us all our deaths."

"Stiles, man, what the hell? That's not helping," Jackson snaps.

"He's not wrong though," Lydia sighs, "I could grow wings tonight and fly into banshee heaven."

"There's nothing in any books," Nolan informs them, "I mean my dad told me about banshees one time but only that they're harbingers of death. Which was sort of a giveaway since you scream when someone is going to die."

"Total giveaway," Lydia scowls. "I just hate feeling like this. Feeling like my brain is going to explode because there are thousands of voices in my brain screaming for me help. I need to do something."

"Like relax," Stiles suggests, trying to be helpful.

"Yeah… like relax."

Jackson perks up, "What about the lake house?"

"What about it?" the girl asks.

"We always went there before finals because it calmed you down," Jackson says, "you always get all stressed about tests even though you always end up acing them."

"The lake house…"

"I'd love to go," Stiles interjects, "wouldn't you love to go, Nolan? We can get the whole gang! Camilla, Isaac, Scott… all of us. Maybe even Erica and Derek'll wanna join us. I'm sure he'd like some relaxation after being tortured for days."

"No Derek," Nolan says, "he still creeps me out. Every time I look at him he has murder eyes."

"Those are just his eyes," Jackson and Stiles say in unison.

"That doesn't really inspire comfort, fellas."

Lydia speaks up now, "So the seven of us to the lake house? Some TLC and maybe a little bit of wine and maybe that will help cool me down. The voices are already piping down just thinking about the lake."

"So it's settled then," Jackson beams, "we all go to the lake house tomorrow morning."

_\-------_

Scott helps Derek up the steps of the Hale house, the man still not strong enough to walk on his own.

"Take me to the bedroom, McCall," Derek commands, but in a soft tone.

"At least take me out to dinner first," Scott jokes, attempting to make Derek feel just a little better and failing.

Erica trails behind them, her head down, her voice quiet.

Scott and Derek finally cross the threshold of the bedroom and Scott helps Derek sit on his bed with a grunt.

Erica stands in the doorway, unsure of what to do or where to go.

"You should probably take a shower or something," Scott suggests. "Get the blood off of you."

"I need to rest for a bit, I'm not healed enough," Derek says in a pained voice as he shifts his body.

"I'll go get a washcloth, just to help a little," Erica offers, instantly moving, glad to get away for a bit.

When she is gone, Derek looks over Scott.

"What happened tonight?" he asks.

Scott averts his eyes away from Derek, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Scott, what happened?"

Scott looks up and sighs, "I don't know. One minute I was fighting him, and the next I just had all this anger inside of me. I kind of blacked out, but I knew what I was doing. And all I wanted to do was rip Deucalion apart."

Derek listens carefully, taking note of what Scott was saying.

"Did you feel yourself… changing? Physically?"

"I guess, I don't know. It felt like something in me shifted, and… I don't really know."

Derek sighs heavily, wincing when he does.

"It's the True Alpha in you. It gets so powerful, that sometimes it starts to take over you. It takes over your humanity. If you're not careful, and if you can't learn to control it, it will take over all of you. You'll still be human, but you won't have control over yourself. You'll be like… a wolf."

Scott's eyes widen, but he doesn't get a chance to talk to Derek anymore, because Erica walks in then, a damp cloth in her hands.

Scott, not wanting to overstay his bounds, makes sure Derek is alright and then heads out, leaving Erica and Derek alone for the first time in a while.

Derek struggles to remove his shirt, which was barely even a shirt any more, what with all the rips and tears. Erica can see the pain he feels when he moves.

"I can help if you want," she offers quietly.

Derek breathes out, trying to decide what to do. He puts his arms down and looks at her.

Erica doesn't wait for an answer and she moves toward him, setting the cloth down on the bed next to him. Carefully, she begins to peel of the bloody, torn shirt. Derek winces from it, but he doesn't say a word.

When the shirt is finally off, Erica can see the full extent of his wounds, which are worse than she thought. He was already beginning to heal, but a lot of them were deep enough to require extra time. Dried blood was everywhere.

"I brought this…" she tells him, showing him the washcloth. "I can help you if you want still, but if you want me to go I can."

"Stay. Please," he responds, his voice a little bit louder than a whisper.

Tears nearly fill her eyes, but she keeps them back. She moves onto the bed and sits behind him, starting to clean his back first.

She works slowly and carefully, knowing he must still be in pain. The gashes were deep and covered a lot of his back, but she could still see the strong muscles he had. She could still feel how hard they were from underneath the cloth.

She finishes his back and tells him to turn around so she could start on his front side, which wasn't as bad.

Not knowing where to start, she puts her hand forward, but pauses.

She bites the inside of her cheek and contemplates where to put the cloth first.

Before she can decide, Derek grabs her wrist lightly, causing her eyes to drift up towards his.

He looks longingly into her eyes, and she gets the feeling that she wants to cry again, and this time, her body betrays her and lets a stray tear fall down her cheek. Derek sees it and uses his other hand to wipe it away. His hand lingers on her face and he caresses it slowly, savoring the familiar feeling.

"Derek," she whispers, her voice cracking.

Not even a second after that, his lips are on hers and all the feelings running between them are blasted into the kiss. Erica can't keep the tears away now and they run down her face as she kisses Derek so that they land on his cheeks too, making both of their faces wet with her salty tears.

They pull apart, and Derek puts his forehead against Erica's, breathing in her scent, the scent that he loved.

He wraps one of his hands in her hair and doesn't let go. He moves his chin forward and kisses her again, lightly this time.

"I didn't mean it when I said you weren't strong enough. That was the only thing I could think about while I was in that vault, was the look on your face when I said that. I knew right away that I didn't mean it. And seeing you today with Aiden… I can't believe those words ever came out of my mouth…" Derek trails off, obvious pain in his voice.

"Shhh," Erica responds, kissing him again. "It's okay."

"No, it's not. Erica, I love you. And you saved me. And you save me everyday. Without you… I'm nothing. I might have thought that being bigger and faster meant I was stronger, but I'm not. It's you who is the strong one. It was always you."

Erica sighs with a strange kind of happy, a sad kind of happy.

"I don't want to talk about it anymore," she says, grabbing his hands and scooting closer to him on the bed.

"Okay, no more talking," Derek says, feeling Erica's body move as she breathes against him.

After a moment, she sits up and gets off of the bed, untangling herself from Derek's embrace.

"What are you doing?" he asks, his face frowning.

"You need to get cleaned up, and a stupid rag isn't going to do anything," she answers. With that, she pulls of her shirt and looks over at Derek. "Come on, I'll help you."

Slowly but surely, the two make it into the shower. Erica does her job and gets Derek clean as good as she can, though it takes a while with pauses for Derek to relax a little and pauses for them to make up for lost time. Minutes pass and they finally exit the shower after a little over an hour.

Wrapped in towels, the two make it over to the bed and lie down side by side, looking up at the ceiling.

"I love you, Erica," Derek says, breaking the silence.

"I went out with Ben twice. And one of the times was tonight," Erica blurts out.

Derek looks over at her and frowns.

"And what came of that?"

Erica rolls over onto her side and looks right into Derek's eyes.

"I realized the only one out there for me was you, and if it wasn't you, it wasn't anyone else. It was always you."

Derek rolls over too, but more slowly. When he manages to get on his side, he takes Erica into his arms and holds her against his still-wet body, feeling her wet hair press into his arms.

They stay like that for a long time, not moving, not speaking, until Erica falls asleep, still wrapped in her towel.

_\-------_


	23. Crying Lightning (4x11)

"I cannot believe this!" Camilla yells angrily, her tote bag swishing from the crook in her arm as she storms into Lydia's lakehouse.

With no warning she lets the tote fall to the floor, various bottles of tanning oil and perfume making small thuds when they connect with the hardwood floor.

The brunette huffs to the kitchen, her hair sopping wet with rain water, an unexpected visitor.

"Hey, calm down, from what I hear from Isaac you don't mind getting wet," Jackson jokes, walking in behind her with a wet, blue beach towel on top of his head. He slops the polka-dotted towel into the kitchen sink, a smirk on his face.

"Can it, Jack-off!" Camilla shoots back, her eyes like daggers.

Jackson holds his hands up in surrender, the smirk even wider, as the rest of the group walks in, wet and grumpy.

"Well, this fun lake day is a bust," Stiles pouts, sitting on a stool at the breakfast nook. With a little shake of his head, tiny drops of water fall onto the counter.

Scott walks over to a window with a towel slung over his shoulder. His face forms a frown when he notes the greenish-looking sky.

"Yeah, I wouldn't suggest we try and drive back home in this either. It's going to get really nasty really fast," he shares, putting the curtain back in place.

"Just perfect!" Camilla exclaims, her hands waving around in the air.

"Why are you so pissed? It's just a little rain," Jackson asks whilst unscrewing the top to a bottle of Diet Coke.

"Why are you drinking Diet Coke, Cum Guzzler? It's not like it's any better for you," the girl retorts. She sighs after she speaks and her face softens a bit. "Sorry, I just hate when things get rained out. It always happened to me when I was a kid."

Jackson nods in understandment, but he turns to Nolan and mutters "Drama queen" under his breath.

Nolan tries to hide his sheepish grin by turning away from the group.

"So, what are we going to do now?" he asks, his eyes moving from person to person.

No one offers up an answer as they all try to think.

What does a group of teenagers do at an unsupervised lakehouse during a thunderstorm?

_**TEEN WOLF**   
_

Melissa walks into Deaton's hospital room with a smile on her face. The older McCall loved a good storm; something about them always brought her spirits up. Upon seeing the smile on the woman's face, Deaton too perks up and sits up fully in bed.

"Good news? Perhaps you telling me I can take a leave from this hospital bed and hop into my own?" the vet asks.

Melissa frowns briefly and says, "Not exactly. Dr. Avery wants to keep you one more night just to make sure everything is in working condition. You can head out tomorrow morning."

"Very well," the man sighs, allowing himself to lie back down, "where are our dear teen werewolves this fine full moon?"

"Oh, they're up at Lydia's lake house for the night… and from your expression I take it that that is a monumentally bad idea. Should I not have let them go?" Melissa asks worriedly, "Scott's just been kind of sad lately I thought a trip with his friends would help bring up his spirits. I was trying to be a good mom."

"I'm… I'm sure it's fine. Scott is very good at controlling his shift," Deaton says coolly, "Isaac and Jackson and Erica though… that may be where the bad times being to roll."

Melissa runs a hand through her curly hair, "Well, crap."

\-------

Erica pads from the bathroom, scrunching her hair with a towel, trying to dry it.

"Please tell me you built a bowling lane in the house while I was in the shower and that's not thunder I hear," she begs halfheartedly.

Derek looks up at her from the bed, a book in his hands.

"I think you know the answer to that one," he responds, nodding his head toward one of the bedroom windows, where it was clear to see the storm clouds rolling in.

Erica groans and plops down on the end of the bed, putting her head in her hands.

Derek replaces his bookmark and sets the book down. His eyes on Erica, he nudges her with his foot.

"Are you upset because you were in the mood to bowl?" he teases, nudging her again.

Erica removes her head from her hands, a red mark on her forehead from where it had been resting against her palms.

The blonde looks back at Derek and sighs, not bothering to answer.

Instead, she stands up from the bed and moves over to their shared dresser, pulling out a pair of running shorts and one of Derek's t-shirts.

All of a sudden, a clap of thunder shudders the sky with a bang, and Erica jumps, obviously frightened.

She breathes out a loud breath and grips the edge of the dresser, her knuckles turning white.

Derek's face turns quizzical as he notices her rigid stance.

"Erica, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," she says quickly, her voice happy. She says no more as she lets the towel fall to the ground and she begins pulling on her shorts.

Another boom of thunder sounds as Erica is about to put on the shirt, and the girl jumps again, worse this time, dropping the shirt in the process.

Derek is quick to stand up and grab it before she can get it herself, taking advantage of his werewolf speed.

He leans against the dresser next to her, smiling, the shirt in his hand.

Erica presses her arms against her bare chest and she looks at Derek.

"Thank you, I'll be taking that now," she says, reaching out one hand awkwardly so she can grab the shirt from Derek.

"Nah, I think I'll keep it for a sec," Derek taunts, moving the shirt so it was out of Erica's reach.

"Derek, really, give it to me," she responds with a small whine.

"Not until you tell me why you keep jumping," Derek smirks back, obviously knowing the answer but wanting to mess with Erica anyways.

"I'm not, you're seeing things," she insists, trying to move her arm closer to where he was holding the shirt without revealing her chest.

"Ah ah ah," he scolds playfully, moving the shirt farther away from her prying hand. "I think you're afraid of the storm."

Erica glares at her boyfriend, her hands still protecting her half-naked body.

"No I'm not, I just-"

Her reply is interrupted when another thunderclap is heard, making the blonde jump yet again. This time, a flash of lightning lights up the room following the thunder.

Derek laughs and smiles at his girlfriend, thoroughly amused.

"Okay, fine! I'm scared of thunderstorms! I have been since I was a little girl," Erica confesses, obviously distressed.

"There, aren't you glad you told me?" Derek coos, cocking his head at Erica.

"No," Erica says grumpily, her lips pouting. "Can I have the shirt now?"

Derek tilts his head to the side and ponders her question.

"Nope," he responds.

Erica rolls her eyes and says, "Seriously? I told you that storms freak me out, now give it to me so we can go watch a movie or something and I don't have to stand here naked and scared."

Derek grins slyly and he moves a bit closer to his girlfriend.

"I can think of other things to give to you to keep you distracted," he offers, tossing the shirt behind him onto the floor and moving to grab Erica around her waist and lift her in the air.

"Derek!" she squeals in part delight, part anger, though she giggles when he rests her on the bed, moving his body on top of hers.

He leans in to kiss her passionately and when they break apart he smiles at her.

"I think I like this idea better," Erica tells him, pulling his head down to hers.

\-------

Nolan sits at the breakfast nook, his head resting in his palm, a bored expression on his face. Camilla sits next to him, a Sudoku book in front of her face.

Nolan watches as his friend finishes the puzzle with ease, despite it claiming it was an "Extremely Hard" puzzle.

When she puts the last digit into one of the boxes, she sighs and looks up at Nolan.

"Rain ruins everything," she says with a pout.

Nolan nods in agreement as he stirs his straw around in his iced tea.

Stiles leans against one of the counters in the kitchen, waiting for Pizza Rolls to finish cooking in the microwave.

"God, those things smell," Camilla states, her nose crinkling up.

"You don't like Pizza Rolls? Are you even human?" Stiles questions.

Camilla shrugs, "With my odds, probably not. I'm probably part witch or something."

Stiles shakes his head and looks back at the microwave, which shows that there was one minute remaining until Pizza Roll bliss.

Before it can finish cooking, however, the power suddenly goes out, leaving everyone in darkness.

"Are you kidding me?" Lydia cries out from the couch where she had been channel surfing, the remote still gripped in her hand.

Jackson chuckles a bit from one of the reclining chairs in the living room.

Camilla rubs her hands together and shakes her head, "I told you guys, rain ruins everything."

"Well, at least we have werewolves here who can look for some candles or something, right guys?" Nolan asks hopefully, a bit on edge about the power outage.

"Sure thing," Isaac responds, pushing himself off of the couch. "Scott, you gonna come with?"

Scott smiles, happy that Isaac asked him. Ever since the he kissed Camilla, Isaac had been Scott the cold shoulder. Little did he know, though, Isaac only offered so he could account for Scott's whereabouts during the power outage.

"Yeah, man," the Alpha responds, standing up from his spot on the loveseat.

"What am I supposed to eat?" Stiles moans, his hands pressed against the microwave door, his uncooked Pizza Rolls still inside.

"Tequila," Camilla suggests.

Stiles rolls his eyes, though the brunette couldn't see it.

"I'm hungry, not aching for a hangover," Stiles responds.

"I'm down," Nolan says quickly, excitement coursing through his veins.

"Seriously? You Nolan? Have you even ever drank before?" Lydia asks, making her way up behind them slowly, since it was still pretty dark except for whatever light the sky still had.

"Well, there was this one night at Jungle..."

"Do you really think it's a good idea?" Lydia questions, crossing her arms. "I mean, I know our boys can control their wolf forms now, but add a little alcohol into the equation, and I'm not sure they'll still have the same power they do now."

"Oh, Lydia, it takes a hell of a lot of alcohol to get a werewolf drunk, it's fine. We probably don't have enough here anyways. Looks like just us humans get to have some fun," she says joyfully.

"Ooh, yay! My first drunken night! And I got all my favorite people with me," Nolan adds happily, reaching to grab what he thinks is Lydia's hand, but missing and grabbing her elbow instead.

"But I want fooooooood," Stiles whines from the kitchen, his hands cupping his empty stomach.

"Tequila tastes like pizza, c'mon Stiles," Camilla lies.

Stiles sighs, though not believing her, he agrees to join in.

Suddenly, the night gets a little better when Scott and Isaac walk in with candles in their hands.

"See, Lydia? Everything is going to be fine. Now why don't you grab me something special from your liquor cabinet?" Camilla urges, her smile dimly lit up from one of the candles.

Lydia relaxes a bit and goes off in search of alcohol, making Camilla cheer and clap a little, her excitement taking over.

\-------

Melissa walks through the laundry room behind the kitchen and hangs her blue coat on the hook besides Scott's jean jacket. She smiles, remembering her son is home brings a sense of euphoria to the woman. It feels good to be a mom again.

Claws clicking on the tiled floor, Maximus comes up to his owner wagging gleefully.

"How's my boy," Melissa asks the dog. She steps a few feet in to the kitchen and instantly slips and falls right on her butt. The woman cusses and looks right up to the ceiling, spotting the crack and the source of the water on the floor. A thick, brown drop falls from the crack then and lands on Melissa's forehead.

"Excellent," the woman says to herself as she stands up, "just what I need. A leak."

The woman looks over to the clock above the microwave and sighs, it's 10:15. There's no way she can get someone out to repair the leak now… well, at least not a professional. Reluctantly Melissa pulls out her old flip phone and dials a number she knows by heart.

"We're just going to have a quick guest, Maxi," she tells the dog as the phone rings. "He'll be in and out in no time… no time at al- John, hey, it's Melissa. I know it's late but I was wondering if you'd be willing to come be my carpenter."

The sheriff smiles on the other end of the conversation, "I can be over in ten minutes. Do you have tools or should I bring my own?"

"I'm a woman with Scott as my son. You're going to need to bring your own tools."

John laughs, "Okay, I'll be right over."

The two hang up and suddenly Melissa feels butterfly in her stomach. She locks eyes with her dog and laughs loudly and nervously, "I hope I've got some good wine…"

\-------

Camilla pours Nolan another shot of tequila, "Shoot it! Shoot it!" she chants, laughing as the boy throws back the liquid and makes a disgusted face. "How does it feel to be a bad kid, Nolan Hayes?"

"Warm," the boy laughs, causing Camilla to pour him another shot.

"Stilinski, you still in this?" the huntress asks.

Stiles lifts his head up from the counter and sighs, "Why are we doing this?"

" _Because_ ," the girl begins, "our dearest Nolan was considered a grade A freak of goddamn nature. The kids at his school in lame ass Illinois wanted to sign him up for the freakshow he was considered to be  _that_  weird. We are doing this because sweet, sweet, innocent, slightly odd and also very emotionally stunted Nolan has lacked all the important parts of adolescence – like binge drinking with his friends and getting stoned in the back seat of a Jeep at 2AM and eating curly fries. I bet you've never even played spin the bottle, have you Mr. Hayes?"

Nolan shakes his head and frowns.

"Holy shit, seriously?" Camilla asks.

"Never ever, I was never invited to parties because not only am I a super homo, but people were also slightly afraid I'd pull a Kelly Hayes and go all psychotic."

"Goddamn, that settles it," the girl says, "Everyone, we're playing spin the bottle!"

Nolan's face lights up, "SPINTHEBOTTLE!" he slurs.

Camilla grabs a full bottle of vodka from her tote bag and leads the rest of the group into the living room. Everyone sits in a circle, Lydia the most reluctant of them all. Camilla briefly says that all bets are off and that boys have to kiss Nolan, since Nolan was into that, and then hands the bottle to her auburn haired friend.

Nolan giggles and then violently spins the bottle, hoping it'll land on Jackson. Sooner than any of the kids expect the bottle slows and eventually stops, pointing at the person sitting directly across from Nolan.

"Oh goody," Lydia says, leaning across the bottle. She puckers her lips and Nolan pecks her lips – barely even a kiss, but everyone in the circle lets it fly. The kids cheer and Nolan sits back and laughs, leaning his head against Jackson's shoulder.

Lydia takes the bottle and spins it hard. She realizes suddenly that the only guy in this circle she hasn't kissed is Isaac, and halfway hopes it lands on him so that she can have a full scorecard, when the bottle stops.

"No," she says flatly, "no, I don't kiss girls."

Camilla cackles and rolls her eyes, the slight buzz she has ridding her of most of her inhibitions she reaches forward and slams her lips against Lydia's. The strawberry blonde keeps her lips against her friend's, but does nothing to make the kiss more than a mere peck. Accepting her small victory of simply getting her lips on Lydia, Camilla pulls away and smiles.

"You kiss girls now," she laughs. Spinning the bottle she hollers, "Give mamma her hunky hottie!"

The bottle spins, slows, and stops at Stiles.

Camilla wastes no time and leans across the bottle and lays one on Stiles, who – at first – makes an incredibly shocked face and then gets into the kiss. He's willing to take it further until Lydia pushes the two of the apart and snaps, "Spin the bottle Stiles."

Stiles spins and it lands on Isaac. Stiles sighs, grabs the bottle and spins it again. It spins and spins for a solid two minutes before it slows and stops on Jackson.

"I could be into that," Nolan laughs.

"What?" Stiles chuckles nervously.

"You're on his list," Jackson explains, "of guys he can hookup with if the opportunity should present itself. He's also told me about this dream of the three of us."

"That's… flattering. Really flattering actually," Stiles beams, before he spins the bottle again. This time it lands on Scott and in defeat, Stiles groans, "Let's just kiss."

Scott laughs and leans forward and Stiles softly pecks him on the lips, in the same fashion Nolan had pecked Lydia.

"My turn. I'm coming for you Lydia," the werewolf laughs as he spins the bottle.

That's when tension fills the room. As the bottle spins and stops, Scott looks up and sees that it has stopped on Camilla, the boy can feel his face redden, "I… uh… I can just spin again if you'd prefer or… I'll just…"

"Can't believe I'm gonna do this again," Camilla laughs as she leans forward and gives Scott a soft kiss on the lips.

When the kiss ends and the two teens pull away Scott looks beside Camilla at a frowning Isaac. Not knowing what to do, Scott gets up and walks out of the living room and to the back hall. Stiles, worried about his friend, gets up and follows Scott out just as Camilla's spin stops on Jackson.

The werewolf laughs and pulls Camilla in for a kiss. Although she doesn't mean to, Camilla allows Jackson's tongue into her mouth and when the kiss ends, Jackson pulls away and smirks cockily before saying, "How does Nolan taste?"

All the color in Camilla's face fades as she grabs the full bottle, yanks the lid off and takes a healthy swig. Nolan laughs all the while.

"I love you Nolan," the girl says, "but I really don't love you  _that_ much. I think maybe this game is over. Jackson, would you be interested in allowing your dearest butt-buddy to do a body shot off you?"

"I wanna lick those abs," Nolan whispers into Jackson's ear.

The werewolf grabs the boy's hands and they get up to go over to the kitchen island, Camilla laughing as she follows them.

Out in the hallway Stiles stands in front of Scott with his arms crossed. He raises his brows, as though to ask Scott 'what's going on?' and with a second of hesitation, Scott laughs at himself and then flatly answers.

"I think I'm in love with Camilla," is all he can manage.

Stiles shakes his head, "No. No way. You're not actually saying that."

"I can't help it, kissing her is just…"

"Scott, man, come on. Camilla is dating Isaac, she loves Isaac."

Scott groans, "Why can't you just be happy for me? I'm finally feeling good for the first time since Allison…"

"That's what this is," Stiles says, piecing it all together, "this has nothing to do with Camilla at all and everything to do with Allison. Camilla is not Allison, Scott. Camilla can't fill the Allison Argent shaped hole in your heart."

From zero to sixty in no time at all, Scott becomes furious, "Screw you Stiles! You have no right to say something like that. I stood by your side for thirteen years while you fell all over yourself because you were so pathetically in love with Lydia! You can't back me up on this?"

"Scott, man, come on…"

"No, this is bull crap, I'm out of here!"

Before Stiles fully registers what is happening, the front door of the house swings open and Scott stomps out of the house and into the rain storm. The door remains open and when a bolt of lightning strikes through the sky, Stiles just barely sees Scott's figure before it disappears in the dark combination of storm and night.

One thing scares Stiles though – it had looked as though Scott's typical muscular frame had begun to change into something much more demonic and wolfish.

\-------

Melissa slaps her hand against the couch, her stomach hurting from the constant and unstopping laughter she and Stiles's dad had been sharing for the last half hour.

Startled by the pounding, Max jumps up from the couch and prances away, probably to curl up in one of the laundry baskets full of towels, a thing he loved to do.

Melissa puts her hand to her mouth, her eyes wide.

"Iscaredhimaway," she slurs, the three glasses of wine she drank affecting her speech.

The sheriff blinks hard, his head swaying a little bit. Then he starts laughing again, and Melissa picks up once more too.

After a few tears flow, the two calm down enough to look at each other.

"So much for fixing my leak," the curly-haired woman says, gesturing towards a few pots collecting drips of water in the kitchen.

"I'll call you a guy tomorrow. I'm no handy-man," the sheriff shrugs, taking another swig of wine.

"Yeah, Scott really isn't either," Melissa shares, curling up her legs underneath her. "I blame it on his dad. I mean, he's a great cop, but he sucked when it came around to fixing things."

"That guy.. is an asshole," the sheriff says, his finger pointing, but to nothing in particular.

"He really is. God, I sure know how to pick 'em."

Melissa shakes her head and dumps more wine into her glass, the bottle emptying its last drops.

"You deserve so much better," he tells her, gesturing wildly, another side effect of the drunkenness.

"I do, don't I?" Melissa says after she takes a sip. "I deserve a guy who knows how to work a damn power tool. I deserve.. a man.. who knows how to change a car's oil on his own."

The sheriff nods, "Yes. Exactly. A man does those things. I do those things."

"You do!" Melissa exclaims, slamming her hand on the couch again. "I called you to fix my roof, and you tried!"

"I sure as hell did. Yep, yep," he responds, nodding his head.

"I could never call him to fix my roof! He doesn't even know how to get on the roof!" Melissa laughs, almost sloshing a bit of wine on the couch.

The two laugh together again, but this time, when they stop, their eyes are on each other, and something new fills the air. Desire.

In a flash, they move to each other and their lips meet, a passionate kiss passed between them.

When they pull apart, they look at each other again, both of their eyes full of shock.

"Uh oh," Melissa says slowly.

\-------

Lydia sits with her back toward the rest of the group, the remaining five are laughing and doing shot after shot having a blast – yet Lydia can't bring herself to join in on the festivities.

_Helphelphelphelphelphelp_

The words play over and over in her head, in different voices each time.

Her head feeling full, Lydia gets up from where she sits and walks into the den. Her eyes connecting with the tall backed leather chair in the corner beside the tall bookcase she makes her way to the chair when she hears footsteps coming up behind her.

With a sigh Lydia turns to see Jackson standing behind her, shirtless.

"Why aren't you drinking?" the boy asks as he follows the girl deeper into the room.

"Someone needs to stay sober to keep the rest of the group from doing something stupid. We don't want anybody thinking it's a good idea to pull out the Ouija board," Lydia forces herself to smile, "I'm really just not in the mood."

"Are you still hearing the voices?"

Lydia swallows hard and shakes her head, "No, they've quieted down. Just about for good I think, you were right… coming out to the lake was the perfect remedy."

Jackson flashes a grin, "Great! That's really great, Lydia. Uh, well, if you're actually all good I'm going to go back out to the living room and make sure my boyfriend hasn't managed to get your boyfriend to partake in some homo-erotic activity."

The werewolf turns on his heel and exits the room as swiftly as he had entered it, leaving Lydia alone with her thoughts.

_Youcangetmeoutiknowyoucan_ , Allison says in her head three times before adding,  _there'sawayforyoutogetmeoutandifyoutryhardenoughyoucanfindit._

_\-------_

"How much money in the world would it take for you to go outside right now, and stand in the middle of the storm?" Derek asks Erica, his hand running softly against her stomach, his fingers trailing across the surface.

"It's not that part of the storms that bugs me really. It's the sounds and the flashes of light and the wind... I don't really know why I'm scared, I just always have been. My parents used to let me crawl up in between them when it would get really bad out," Erica reminisces, a small smile coming to her face.

Derek rests his head against the top of Erica's, her vanilla shampoo wafting up for him to smell.

"I really miss them sometimes," Erica reveals.

"I know you do. But I'm here now. I'll let you curl up next to me when storms come around," Derek soothes her, tilting his face so he could kiss the top of her head.

"Well, considering Beacon Hills's terrible storm season, I'll definitely be taking you up on that offer. It seems like it's starting again."

Derek nods, knowing just how bad the storms can get here.

"You know what, though? I've actually always wanted to go outside during a storm," Erica shares. "Not alone, or like, when there was a tornado. But I just want to know what it's like to feel the storm's energy all around you, you know?"

"Then let's go," Derek responds, quickly moving and taking Erica with him.

"Wait, right now? I don't know if-"

"You're coming," Derek commands, pulling her towards him. "Now, put on this shirt and let's move."

Knowing she couldn't get out of it, Erica shrugs Derek's t-shirt on, the one she had attempted putting on before, which obviously had no use for her until now.

After dressing, she follows Derek through the house to the front door. Together, they walk out onto the porch and wait at the top of the steps, Erica taking a deep breath.

"I think I want to try by myself," she says, shocking herself.

Derek gestures for her to go ahead, and slowly, she steps out into the rain, moving down the steps. The wetness shocks her barefeet for a moment, but she gets used to it.

When she reaches the bottom of the stairs, she doesn't stop, and she walks to the middle of the front yard, her feet turning muddy in the process.

Thunder rolls around her, but Erica is surprisingly calm. Lightning flashes in the sky as Erica gets soaked. Not an inch of her was dry anymore. But she didn't care. She felt surprisingly good.

With her head tilted up, the blonde watched the rain fall down and watched the storm rage on. With her keen hearing she notices footsteps falling from behind her and soon enough Derek is right next to her.

"You're really weird, you know that?" Derek says over the rain.

Erica nods without looking at him.

"But I love you because of it," he adds on, making her turn to face him. He turns to her too and looks into her eyes.

"Ever been kissed in the rain?" she asks, her eyes taking in Derek's wet body.

The man doesn't wait another moment and he pulls Erica towards him, gripping her soaked t-shirt.

\-------

Scott tears through the cemetery, full of anger. He spots the grave he had been looking for and stops, knealing down on top of it.

"Why are you doing this to me?" he yells over the pouring rain.

His clothes are weighted down by the water, and his hair falls onto his face.

"I see more of you in her everyday. It's not fair. I lose you, but then you come back.. in her. But I can't have you!" he roars.

"Why did you have to leave me, Allison? You didn't even say goodbye!"

Scott punches the ground, his fist making a wet plop as it slams into the mud.

Scott can feel tears run down his face, though they mix with the raindrops.

"I need you back," he says quieter. "I can't keep going day by day, seeing you in her and not being able to do anything about it."

"Allison!" he screams into the night sky, the werewolf in him coming out in his voice.

It's then Scott breaks down into a sob. It was probably the first time since Allison's funeral that he cried like this.

Sobs shudder his body and he slumps against the ground, no energy to hold himself up.

Suddenly, wet footsteps traipse through the mud, and Scott realizes he isn't alone.

Chris appears, his face steady but sad. Scott looks up at him and doesn't have to say a word. The man wraps his arms around Scott, knealing down in the mud with him.

"I miss her so much," Scott chokes out.

"I know, son. I do too. So much," Chris tells him, putting his hand in Scott's hair as the boy breaks down.

They stay like that for a while, both of them crying over their fallen angel.

"I need to bring her back," Scott cries against Chris's shoulder.

Chris has to bite on his lip from crying out, so much pain running through him. When he gets through it he says back:

"She's not coming back, Scott."

\-------

 


	24. She's Thunderstorms (4x12)

Scott breathes in the familiar scent, but can't remember what or who it is he is smelling. A hint of vanilla… a hint of lavender…. It smells like… Allison?

His eyes flash open and they immediately land on the girl in question, her eyes staring back at him. Surprise grips his throat but he soon realizes he is only looking at a picture of the girl. It was one Lydia had taken of Allison when she had had an assignment in her photography class.

Scott looks at Allison's smile, the one he hadn't seen in person for months. Behind Allison were the woods where Lydia had taken her for the photo shoot. Lydia had wanted to shoot Allison in the woods because they were beautiful and ominous, much like Allison herself. But really, the scenery wouldn't even matter, because no one would be looking at anything but the subject of the photo.

Scott sighs heavily as he stares at the photo, taking in Allison's burgundy shirt, barely long enough to cover her long torso, a hint of white flesh showing just above where her jeans rested on her hips.

After a few more moments, confusion hits Scott. Why was he looking at this photo of Allison? Where was he? Why did he still smell her?

He sits up and recognition hits him. He was in Allison's old bedroom. He was in her apartment.

Flashes of the night before speed through his mind… Allison's grave… Alcohol… Thunderstorms… Chris.

Why did Chris bring him back here?

Before Scott can answer his own question, Chris himself walks into the room, lightly knocking on the door.

"Oh good, you're up," the man says, noticing Scott.

Scott clears his throat and pulls the covers over his half naked body.

"Yeah, just… just woke up." It's then Scott spots Chris's apparel: a tuxedo. "What's with the… uh… outfit?"

Chris pulls on the jacket of his tux and his eyes widen.

"We've got a wedding to go to."

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

"Does everyone have everything?" Lydia calls to her group of friends, her arms are crossed firmly over her chest and her breathing is sharp, Camilla notices as she stares intently at her red haired friend.

"Are you okay?" Camilla asks.

Lydia locks eyes with her and Camilla and see the angst that lies beneath, "I'm fine."

Wanting to figure out what was plaguing her friend, but not having the time, Camilla hollers, "Come on people, we need to get this show on the road. You're looking at a bridesmaid here who cannot be late for her father's wedding!"

"Would you stop shouting?" Nolan asks as he walks toward Jackson's dad's Mercedes.

"Hungover?" Camilla asks.

"He was praying to the porcelain gods earlier," Jackson answers as he comes out of the lake house with both his and Nolan's bags.

"So there's puke all over the place?" Lydia asks worriedly.

"No, I made sure it was cleaned up," Jackson answers.

Exiting the house next is Isaac who asks, "Has anybody heard from Scott?"

"Like you care," Stiles jabs, "after how you and Princess Camilla acted last night I wouldn't be surprised if you were hoping for the worst."

"Don't bring me into this," Camilla argues, "I didn't do anything to make Scott all heart eyes emoji for me except have a blood relation to Allison. If that dumb teen wolf can't see that Allison and I are two different people that's his own goddamn problem."

"Yeah, whatever," Stiles says absently, walking to his jeep.

Lydia stands still by the door as she watches her friends head to their separate vehicles her mind racing with the screams of people passed.

 _They'reallgonnadieyouknowthatright_ – this was Peter.

 _Onmybrother'sweddingdaythat'sarealbitchbutohwellthatswhathegetsforhavingasoftspotforthosegoddamnwerewolves_  chimes in Kate.

 _HurryLydiayouhavetohurryitllbetoolatehurryLydiaplease_ this was Allison.

As the voices scream in Lydia's mind her heart begins to race… oh how she wishes the voices would stop.

\-------

Scott walks through the kitchen and toward the living room in search of his mother. Silence echoes throughout the house – not even Maximus is making a sound.

As Scott exits the diningroom and enters the foyer he sees something unexpected, a pair of men's boots at the front door. Confused, Scott heads through the arch that leads to the living room and sees something no teenager ever wants to see.

Cuddled on the couch are the Sheriff and Melissa, both underneath a red blanket, fast asleep.

"What?" Scott asks, louder than he had intended.

Suddenly, Melissa and the Sheriff awaken and see Scott standing before them.

"Sweetie, it's uh…" Melissa begins, but Scott cuts her off.

"Forget it. Forget it. I have a wedding I need to go get ready for I don't have time for… whatever  _this_  is."

\-------

Aiden and Ethan stand by the back exit of the chapel, their hearts racing – prepared for a fight. They don't wait long before Graham and Frank come strolling out, cigars in their hands. Neither twin moves as they wait for the Archer men to light their cigars.

"Can't believe Ronny is getting married again," Frank sighs as he takes a drag of the cigar.

"I can't believe his daughter is dating a freakin werewolf," Graham retorts, "Isn't that going against the hunter code, times like, a thousand?"

"Give it a rest, son."

"No, dad, I don't understand why no one is seeing the issue here. Camilla is an Argent, she's a hunter, she's not supposed to be in love with some damn hellhound. She's supposed to kill the beasts of the night not run with them. She's part of McCall's Pack and no one is having a problem with it except me."

Aiden jumps forward now, his wolf face on, he menacingly growls, "I've got an issue with it," before he slams a fist into Graham's square jaw.

"Don't have too much fun, brother," Ethan chimes, "we're here to kill, not to play."

Frank turns around just in time to get the lit end of his cigar into Ethan's face. There's a sizzling sound and the smell of burnt flesh as Ethan screams and then smacks the cigar to the ground and punches the older man in the face.

Out of nowhere, Graham produces a dagger and begins slashing at Aiden, getting a cut in here and there. The twin howls each time the wolfsbane soaked dagger makes contact with his flesh, but fights through the pain – eager to connect his teeth with the nape of Graham's neck.

It's not long before Aiden has Graham pinned to the ground, his teeth snapping at the hunter. Graham pushes and punches, managing to knee Aiden in the grown. The werewolf howls and digs his claws into Graham's face before Graham gets the upper hand and gets on top of him.

The hunter gets in a few punches before he takes the dagger and holds it above his head, a smirk spreads across his face as he says, "Guess you're about to find out if all dogs go to heaven," before he brings the dagger down and slams it through Aiden's neck.

Graham yanks the blade up and down and side to side, watching the life fade out of Aiden's eyes. Black blood pours from the wound as Aiden gasps for air, his hands coming up to his neck. The werewolf gets his hands around the handle of the dagger just as the last of his life escapes him and his hands fall limp to his sides – dead.

Next to him, Ethan – having just watched his brother die – comes to life. He angrily claws at Frank, scratching the man's neck with his claws and getting a good punch at the man's stomach in. The older hunter doubles over, the wind having been knocked over him. As he leans forward, Ethan brings his knee up and knees him in the face, causing the man to fall backward and onto his back.

"This is for Aiden!" the boy screams as he comes down, teeth ready to tear the flesh of the human, when suddenly a shot is fired and, much like his twin, Ethan falls to the side… dead.

With a sigh, Frank drops his pistol and looks over to his son.

Graham's face is stoic as he walks over to his father and puts his hand out, ready to help him up.

As Frank is pulled to his feet he beams at his son and mutters, "Like father like son, huh boy?"

\-------

Lydia eyes herself in the mirror, looking over every inch of her heavily touched-up face. Her eyelids feel heavy from the loads of mascara and eyes shadow the makeup artist had pounded onto her face. But she did have to admit, the artist did a good job of covering up the dark circles ringing around the bottom of Lydia's eyes.

Lydia's thoughts once again go to her experiences from the night before. She can't get the voice out of her head no matter how hard she tries. She reaches over to the volume knob on the radio that has been blasting music from Mamma Mia for the last hour and cranks up the volume.

Camilla sings along to the song "Honey, Honey" from beside Lydia, sitting patiently while the makeup artist works on her.

A coppery brown shimmers over Camilla's eyes, enhancing them. Her lips match her bridesmaid dress, blood red. Lydia watches as the makeup artist puts the last few brushes of powder against Camilla's smooth skin, locking in the work she had done.

"And we're done," the woman smiles, stepping back to take a look at the job she had done.

Camilla looks into the mirror and gazes at herself. She smiles, but Lydia can see the something else in her eyes. What was it?

Before she can try and figure out what is on her friend's mind, the look is gone and Camilla turns over to face Lydia.

"We look hot," Camilla states, shrugging out of her chair. The girl wasn't wearing anything more than a strapless bra and a thong. Camilla wasn't a modest person.

"Thanks so much, Lily, you did great. I can't wait to see what Susan looks like IF SHE WOULD EVER GET OUT OF THE BATHROOM!" Camilla raises her voice, making sure the bride-to-be heard her.

"I'm almost done! I swear!" comes Susan's voice from behind the white door. She had been putting on her wedding dress for the last hour.

"You said that a half hour ago!" Camilla yells back as she walks over to where he own dress hangs. Georgie and Piper already had their own dresses on and were helping Susan with hers.

"I keep telling her it looks perfect, but she keeps adjusting it!" Piper calls from inside the bathroom.

Camilla smiles and rolls her eyes. It would be a miracle if Susan stepped out of the bathroom on time.

With little ease, the brunette slips into her dress and pulls it against her tanned body. The dress was a silk strapless sweetheart that came down onto the floor and showed off the curves of the wearer.

Camilla's hand rested on the zipper when a knock sounded at the door.

"Is it Ron?" Susan shouted from the bathroom. "He can't come in here!"

Camilla wanders over to the door and pulls it open, despite her unzipped dress.

"It's just Isaac," Camilla responds, a smile lighting up her face. She grabs her boyfriend by the tie and pulls him into the room. "I hope everyone's decent."

Not that it would've mattered if anyone was undressed or not because Isaac's eyes were only on Camilla and the tight dress she was enveloped in. His hands went to her hips, dipping into the area where it was unzipped, his warm hand against her flesh.

"Get a room," Lydia moans, pulling out her phone and checking for texts from Stiles. Nothing.

Camilla pulls away from Isaac's lips, and turns so her unzipped area is exposed to him.

"Zip me up?" she asks slyly. His hands find the zipper and he closes the dress slowly, his eyes glued to Camilla's.

"Isaac, I'm so glad you're here, but I'm ready to come out and no one gets to see the bride before the wedding except for these ladies!" Susan exclaims from the bathroom.

Camilla sighs and walks Isaac back over to the door.

"I'll see you in there," he promises, giving her one last kiss before sliding out of the room.

Camilla leans against the door and sighs.

"Alright, Susan, come on out!"

With that, the white door opens to reveal Susan in her dress. The makeup artist once again did wonderful, and Susan's features are highlighted with shades of pink.

Everyone squeals at the exciting moment and they all crowd around Susan, gasping at the way she looks.

"You look astonishing," Georgie announces.

"Susan, honestly, you look amazing. I'm so glad my dad is marrying you," Camilla says, shaking her head in wonder.

"Oh, stop! You're going to make me cry!" Susan whines, fanning her face with her freshly-manicured hand as if it would dry her tears.

Without warning, the door breezes open and in walks Leilani.

"I am so sorry I'm late! I just found out I'm not pregnant!" the woman cheers, setting her purse down on a table.

Confusion spreads across everyone's face.

"I-I didn't know you thought you  _were_  pregnant," Susan reveals, her face full of shock.

"Oh, no one did, I didn't want to worry anyone!" the woman laughs cheerfully. "But now I know, and now we know, and everything is good and it's time for your wedding!"

After a few seconds, Susan nods and the smile reappears.

"Right!" she agrees. "I'm getting married!"

Cheers erupt from the women as Leilani joins their circle, a flask in her hand.

"In my family, we make this special drink for special occasions. I brought it today for the wedding, so drink up!" The Hawaiian takes the first sip, her face scowling after she tastes the liquid. She hands the flask over to Piper who reluctantly takes a sip.

"Oh my," she coughs out after passing it to Susan.

The flask makes its way around the circle until it comes back to Leilani.

"Now, who's ready to have a kick-ass wedding?" she cheers.

\-------

Camilla smiles as she watches her father and Susan walk through the crowd of people, hand in hand. They were officially Mr. and Mrs. Ron Argent and Camilla couldn't be any happier. Isaac stands beside her, his hands clapping for the happy couple along with the rest of the crowd.

Bubbles fill the air as children and adults alike blow them from the small tubes Ron and Susan had provided for each of the guests. Camilla watches her father's face as the bubbles flew around. She hadn't seen him that happy in a long time.

Soon, it is time to head over to the reception hall, which is a good twenty minute drive from the church. Dark, heavy clouds roll into the sky, and thunder rumbles softly, making everyone anxious for a storm to begin.

Camilla waves off Ron and Susan as their limo makes its way out of the church parking lot, the basic "Just Married" sign hanging from the rear window.

Isaac slips his hand into Camilla's and pulls her body against his own.

"You ready to get this show on the road?" he asks her, a smile on his lips. "Or do you want to sneak back into the church and have some fun when no one's watching?"

Camilla shyly smiles, tilting her head down.

"You know what happened last time we snuck off into a church alone…"

"Yeah, that's why I'm suggesting it again," he replies, lightly grabbing her chin and turning her face up towards his.

Camilla was definitely not going off into the church again… Especially since last time they forgot to….  
Before Camilla can finish her thought, Jackson and Nolan interrupt.

"Let's head out before the storm starts, Lahey. I hate to break up your little love fest, but you'll have plenty of time for that at the reception. Leggo."

Jackson walks away and heads towards Camilla's father's car, the car they would be driving for the night since Ron and Susan had the limo.

Camilla looks over at Nolan who just shrugs. Shaking his head, Isaac pulls away from Camilla and takes the keys from his pocket. Placing his arm around Camilla's shoulders he follows Jackson and the group makes their way to the car.

Across the parking lot, Scott gives Melissa a hug goodbye as she gets into Sheriff Stilinksi's car.

"We'll meet you there, hun," she reminds him as she pulls away from his embrace. Her heels clack against the pavement as she walks over to the open passenger door that was awaiting her. The sheriff shuts it snuggly once Melissa is inside and makes his way over to the driver's side. He nods at Scott before he gets in as well.

Soon, the car is driving away and Scott watches as the taillights disappear.

"Oh no, did I just miss your mother?" a voice calls out from behind Scott.

The boy whirls around quickly, despite being in a tux. His eyes glow red as he glares at Deucalion.

"What a shame, she is quite lovely, you know."

"What do you want, Deucalion?" Scott growls.

"I want to know why you killed the twins."

Confusion crosses Scott's face, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"They're dead Scott. And you killed them. Don't play dumb with me," the man says angrily, taking a few steps toward Scott.

"Why do you think I killed them? I was at a wedding all day!"

"As were they. They decided to… uh… drop by. But the next thing I know I get a text from one of their phones giving me a location. And what do I find there? Their heads." The last few words are hard for Deucalion to get out, and Scott can see the pain in the man's face.

"I swear to you I had nothing to do with it."

Stepping even closer, Deucalion locks his eyes onto Scott's.

"Well someone did. Now someone has to pay."

Scott lurches out of the way, just barely missing Deucalion's claws.

The boy launches his own attack and hits his mark, but it only angers the man even more. He comes back and hits an equally hard blow, pushing Scott's body across the parking lot.

Dismayed, Deucalion is on Scott again before he can think to retaliate. Scott feels sharp claws pierce and tear his skin.

The werewolf cries out in pain. Deucalion swipes again, but Scott gets out of his reach, taking the opportunity to get his own blows in.

The two go at it for a few minutes, hitting and receiving. It is clear that Scott can only do one thing to get Deucalion to stop. He must kill him, or he will be killed.

The next thing Scott does is supposed to only hurt the man a little, to knock him off guard while Scott thinks of another way out, but Deucalion moves just slightly, and instead of clawing Deucalion's face, Scott slashes the werewolf's eyes.

Instantly, Deucalion falls to the ground, a growl piercing Scott's ears. He knows what he's done.

The man holds his eyes, blood leaking through his fingers as he continues to scream.

Scott had re-blinded Deucalion.

Shocked and unable to act, Scott simply stares at the shattered man.

"What have you done?" Deucalion shrieks, his voice thick with pain.

"Deucalion, I—"

"No. Do not speak."

Deucalion lowers his hands and looks up at Scott, without actually seeing him.

Scott cannot look at the wreck that is Deucalion's eyes and he turns his head away.

"You have taken away everything," Deucalion's voice shakes. "Everything. What more do you want Scott? Just let me leave. Let me go."

Deucalion's voice spits out the last words, and Scott can feel the despair and heaviness.

"Let me go," Deucalion begs. Scott knows he broke the man.

"I'm sorry," he whispers.

Slowly, Deucalion gets to his feet and walks into the woods beside the church. Scott watches the whole time, unable to see the man as the rain begins to pour. Scott rushes to his car and he sits inside, the image of Deucalion's destroyed eyes stuck in his head.

\-------

The sheriff makes a sharp turn as the rain begins to pelt the car harder.

"I hate these damn storms," he mutters, "every year it's the same thing and they just get worse."

"Maybe you ought to pull over until it lets up," Melissa suggests, "I've seen enough people come into the ER because of this storm to know that getting somewhere on time isn't worth getting in an accident over."

"We're almost there," the man replies, "besides, I've been driving on these roads for the last 36 years, I think I can handle a little ra-"

\-------

"I knew we'd get caught in this goddam storm," Jackson grumbles from his seat, folding his arms across his chest.

"Yeah, well I'm sure everyone else is too, so get your panties out of your ass," Camilla responds. "Now shut up and let Isaac focus on the road."

Even with his keen vision, Isaac was still having trouble seeing the road. The rain was drenching everything with heavy sheets, making it so visibility was nearly impossible, despite the incessant wiping of the windshield wipers.

Thunder rattles loudly in the sky and lightning flashes shortly after. With each moment passing, it seems the storm gets thicker and darker.

Each passenger in the car is on edge, their eyes peeled to the outer world.

"Shit," Isaac mumbles as he swerves the car around a fallen branch that had covered the road.

"Maybe we should pull over for a sec and see if it will lighten up," Nolan offers, his voice a little shaky. "The reception isn't for another hour so we'll be fine."

"I'm supposed to be there to take pictures, though," Camilla replies, not sounding very enthused as she tugs on her dress.

"You can take pictures at any time tonight, it's not like you don't have the rest of the night," Jackson tells her, obviously annoyed and worried.

"Whatever then, pull over the damn car Isaac," Camilla gives up.

Isaac sighs but pulls over, not sure if he could keep driving through the storm.

He shuts off the car and the four sit without speaking, the only sound coming from the loud drumming of the rain against the car.

Minutes go by, and eventually the rain lightens up enough that Isaac thinks he can start driving again. He turns the key and the engine does nothing in response.

Camilla's eyes widen. Isaac tries again, but to no avail.

"What. The. Fuck," Camilla says.

Isaac keeps trying but it never takes and he slumps back into his seat.

"Is this a goddam joke?" Camilla asks no one. Pulling out her phone, she groans. "No service."

The rest of the group checks for service, the same outcome for everyone.

"This is just great. Lovely. Awesome," Camilla pouts, her silk dress swishing as she moves around.

Nolan runs his hands against the smooth leather of his seat, nervous and frustrated. Jackson is quick to grab his hand and give it a comforting squeeze. Nolan smiles at him with gratitude.

"There was a gas station like a mile back, how about I run there really quick and call Ron? He can send someone out to get us," Isaac suggests.

"Yeah, I'll go with you," Jackson offers.

"So what we're just supposed to sit here in this car and wait?" Camilla asks angrily.

"Babe," Isaac turns to her and rests his hand against her arm, "Are you forgetting we're werewolves? It won't take that long. Ten minutes, tops."

Camilla eyes her boyfriend, but sighs, "Fine. Just please hurry."

Isaac smiles lightly and leans over to peck her cheek.

"Ready Jackson?"

Jackson gives Nolan's hand one more squeeze and nods.

"Alright, one… two… three."

Within a few seconds, the two boys are out of the car and Camilla nor Nolan can make out either of their shapes.

"So Nolan, how's the hangover?" Camilla turns around in her seat to face her friend, curiosity highlighting her expression.

"Much better with some coffee and Advil," Nolan reveals, shaking his head and chuckling. "I don't think I ever want to drink again."

"You sure?" Camilla asks, pulling a flask out from underneath her dress.

"Camilla Argent, is there ever going to be a time where you cease to amaze me?" Nolan asks, taking the flask from his friend's hand and taking a long swig.

Choking a little, Nolan hands it back.

"That tastes like straight up gasoline."

Camilla laughs and puts the flask back where it came from.

"What, no drinks for Camilla? I'm honestly shocked," Nolan says sincerely, noticing Camilla failed to take a drink of her own.

"Yeah about that… I'm not—"

Before the girl can finish her explanation, a large thud sounds from the right side of the car, rocking it hardly.

Nolan holds back a scream and his hand automatically shoots to his mouth.

"What the hell was that?" Camilla whispers loudly, a bit terrified.

Another thud shakes the car, coming from the left side this time, right against Nolan's door.

"Oh hell no!" the boy shrieks moving away from the door.

"Okay, this is bullshit, I'm getting out," Camilla tells Nolan, her hand heading for the door handle.

"No!" Nolan grabs his friend. "Haven't you seen any horror movie ever? Girls like you that go after whatever goes bump in the night DIE."

"Well those girls aren't trained to fight monsters, now are they? Stop being a pussy."

With that, Camilla shoves open her door and leaves Nolan in the car by himself. Terrified, he soon follows after her despite the pouring rain.

"Where do you think it went?" Camilla asks, noticing Nolan had made his way to her side.

"I don't know and I don't care. I just hope it's gone."

"Well, if it wants to stay alive it better GET THE HELL AWAY!" she shouts into the night. "I'm ruining my dress for this shit."

"Then let's just get back in the car. Jackson and Isaac will be back any minute. Plus, I think it's gone."

Proving him wrong, loud footsteps pound across the pavement, barely audible over the pouring rain, but Camilla is quick to pick up on it.

"Oh no, it's definitely still here. And it's heading that way," Camilla points to their left with a knife she seemed to have pulled out of nowhere.

"Jesus, Camilla, where did you get that knife?"

The girl starts walking and Nolan has no choice but to follow her.

Answering his question, Camilla says, "I always carry protection. Knives  _and_  condoms."

Muttering under her breath, she adds, "Usually," her mind drifting to—

Interrupting her thoughts, Camilla sees a dark figure dart in front of her.

"There it is, Nolan!" she whispers, entering the forest on the side of the road, holding up her soaking wet dress with her left hand.

"Why are we following it?" Nolan whines, regrettably following his friend.

The two make their way further and further into the dark woods. Vision is barely possible, but the rain is less intense since plenty of trees hover over their heads.

Muddy and cold, Nolan trips over nearly every branch or plant that is big enough.

"Please, let's just go back. I think we lost it," he begs, not too sure how far deep into the woods they even were.

"Nolan, shut up."

"No, I'm serious Camilla! This is how murders happen! This is how animal attacks happen! We–"

"Nolan, seriously shut the hell up and look."

About twenty feet away from them, dark clouds of smoke move along in the air, staying closely confined in one area. Camilla had never seen anything like it before, but she knew it wasn't something good.

But what Nolan sees is different. He sees faces. Ugly, terrible faces. Red and black faces.

"Camilla, do you see them?" he chokes out, fear gripping every inch of him.

"What do you mean them? It's just a bunch of black smoke," she whispers back.

"No… no it's not."

One of the faces looked right at him and smiled, a wicked, awful smile. Its gnarled teeth flashed so white.

"Oh, God, Camilla…"

"Nolan, get down!" a woman's voice says from far away, the boy turns around the same time as Camilla does.

"Who the hell...?" Camilla questions.

"Oh my god," Nolan whimpers.

\-------

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH," Lydia screams, her own ears hurt from the sound and as much as she wants to stop, she can't. It's like the off switch in her mind has been removed and the screams will only continue.

"Tell her to stop!" Scott shouts as he comes into the nursery, blood on the white of his tux shirt.

"If it were that simple don't you think it would've worked by now?" Stiles fires back, barely noticing the blood stains on his friend's shirt.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Well we have to do something, she can't keep screaming like this, someone is gonna hear her and then they're gonna come and find us, and they're gonna see me covered in Deucalion's blood. How the hell are we supposed to not look guilty after that?" Scott asks.

Stiles crouches down in front of Lydia and places his hands on either side of her face, "Lydia, calm down."

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Running out ideas, Stiles' mind flashes back to how Lydia had calmed him down once and without another second of thought he meshes his lips with her's.

Silence ensues and when Stiles' pulls away Lydia wears a confused expression.

"How did you…?"

"I heard once that holding your breath could stop a panic attack and I figured it might work for a banshee attack… so when I kissed you, you held your breath."

"I did?" Lydia smiles softly.

"Yeah. You did."

"Thanks," the girl mutters, "you're really smart."

"I just heard it somewhere… once…"

Lydia's eyes move from Stiles up to Scott, "Why do you have blood on you?"

\-------

Erica and Derek sprint into the reception hall, Derek's jacket covering both of them to protect them from the rain that was still pouring.

Inside, people are drinking, dancing, but most are checking their phones constantly.

Erica spots Isaac and grabs Derek's hand, guiding him over to their friend.

"Isaac, where is everyone? I was sure that I'd see you and Camilla basically having sex on the dance floor by now," Erica asks.

Isaac looks at the two of them glumly, and licks his lips.

"Well, Camilla and Nolan are missing. And Scott just called me and said that the twins are dead and he re-blinded Deucalion."

"What the hell?" Derek roars, attracting the attention of a few people. Quieter he says, "Give me more information."

"Well, apparently Graham and his father saw the twins trying to crash the wedding so they killed them, and Deucalion came to avenge them, and Scott… I don't know… but he says Deucalion is gone for good. As for Camilla and Nolan, we were on our way here but the storm was too bad and we had no reception so Jackson and I were headed to a gas station to call Ron but when we got back they were gone and we couldn't track them."

"Why in the hell would you just leave them? Was it really necessary for both of you to leave? Really?" Erica scolds him. "You're just lucky your girlfriend is a bad ass, otherwise you should be pretty worried."

"Well I still am. Who knows, maybe Deucalion caught up to them or something worse…"

Erica shakes her head, "Does her dad know?"

"No…"

"Isaac seriously?"

"It's his wedding day! It's already crazy enough!" Isaac defends himself, nervously tapping his foot.

"I need a drink," Erica rolls her eyes and sashays away. Derek gives Isaac a look, shakes his head, and follows after his girlfriend.

\-------

Stiles, Lydia, and Scott all pile into the jeep, their minds still racing.

"So he's gone?" Lydia asks again, "For good?"

"Well, he's blind again," Scott replies, "and unless he can convince a Darach to undo it… yeah, I'd venture he's gone for good."

"And the twins?"

"Probably went with him."

It's the ringing of Stiles' cell phone that ends the conversation about the Alphas and when Stiles puts the phone to his ear the world begins to lose its color.

"Stiles, its Melissa," the McCall woman says with a sniffle, "It's, uh, it's your dad… there's been an accident. You need to come to the hospital right away."

\-------

Much to his dismay, Isaac watches as Ron saunters up to him, a curious look on his face.

"Any idea where my daughter is, Isaac? You said she'd be here soon."

Stammering, Isaac responds, "I-I thought she would be. But you know girls, they always find a reason to be late."

Ron chuckles and places a hand on Isaac's shoulder, "And one day you'll figure out that if you lie about what time something starts, you can trick them into being on time."

Isaac laughs nervously as Ron walks away.

Pulling his phone out once again, Isaac grimaces when he sees there are no new messages.

"Camilla, where are you?" he says softly.

As if answering him, Isaac hears people shouting from the reception hall's entrance. Immediately, he makes his way there.

"Honey, what happened to you?" Isaac hears Susan ask as he rounds the corner.

Standing there, covered in mud, are Nolan and Camilla. Their lips are blue and they can barely stand, but they made it after all. Isaac rushes to Camilla's side, grabbing her.

"Baby, what happened to you? Are you okay?"

Soon, Ron finds his way over.

"Camilla, where have you been sweetheart? What happened?"

The girl falls into Isaac's arms, unable to hold herself up.

"Isaac, take them to the bathroom and get them cleaned up, we don't need to cause a scene," Susan suggests, suspecting the reason for their late arrival had something to do with the supernatural.

Jackson appears out of nowhere and soon the four are on the way to the bathroom.

"Isaac," Camilla chokes out. "Isaac…"

"What baby?" he asks, worried. "Are you hurt?"

"Isaac… Nolan's sister is alive."

\-------


	25. Time After Time (4x13)

_One Day After_

Nolan sits at his kitchen table with a cup of coffee in his hands. He still feels shaky after the prior day's events and even though he'd just slept for a whopping thirteen hours he can't help but feel tired. His father had left immediately after Ron and Susan's wedding for some parapsychology conference at Penn State and wouldn't be back until the end of the month.

The boy takes a sip of his coffee when he hears the doorbell ring. Hesitantly he stands and goes through the dining room and into the foyer. He yanks the door open to see his sister standing on the other side.

His sister.

Annalise.

His sister.

His dead sister.

Only she wasn't dead, she was alive and she was standing on the front porch with a box of donuts and another woman.

"You better be careful keeping the door open," Annalise says with a smile, "Charlton Heston'll sneak out."

"Charlton Heston?" the woman with Annalise asks, "Like the guy who played Moses? Isn't he dead?"

"Nolan, this is my friend Malia Tate," the boy's sister says, "she's like me, she's a..."

"A zombie?" Nolan interrupts, "I'm assuming you're a zombie, Annalise, because if memory serves you died about nine years ago. So, if you aren't a zombie you have to be a ghost... a poltergeist maybe - it's a shame Zelda Rubinstein is dead, she'd know just how to get rid of you."

"Nolan, I'm not a zombie and I'm not a ghost," Annalise responds.

"Then what are you? Because you sure as hell can't be Annalise Hayes, because she's dead. I went to her funeral."

Annalise looks down to her boots and says flatly, "Nolan, I'm a demon hunter."

"As am I," Malia adds.

"When I was fifteen a group of demon hunters came to me and told me about us... about mom... about how she wasn't really our mom - look can we come in? I brought donuts, chocolate with sprinkles, even, because I know how much you hate a glazed donut."

"Screw the donuts, what was mom, Annalise?"

"She was a demon," Malia tells him, "your mom was a regular creature of doom and had been possessed by a demon and when she had the two of you she did something big. She made a couple of half demon half human hybrids which are... well... they aren't exactly Tinkerbells, if you know what I mean."

"We're... demons?" Nolan asks.

"Yes." Annalise replies flatly.

"And you... are a demon... hunter?"

"Yes."

"How are you alive?"

Annalise sighs, "I faked my death. Incredibly _E! True Hollywood_ , I know, but the hunters came to me and they told me about how mom wasn't even really our mom and how she had spawned with a human and how there was a big storm coming. Like major bad news storm, Nolan. We're talking apocalypse right freaking now. So they said if I came with them I would be safe and that I could help stop more demons from possessing innocent people."

"And you went with them."

"I went with them."

"She went with them," Malia concludes, "and now we're here for you."

"W-what?" Nolan asks.

"Jesus Christ, Malia. Do you have any tact at all?"

The girl rolls her brown eyes, "Please, tact is just not saying true stuff. No thanks. Trevor and Lisa didn't send us here to fatten your brother up with donuts, Annalise. They sent us here to get him on our side."

"Your side?" Nolan chimes in.

"The demons are here, Nolan," Annalise tells him, "yesterday - that big storm - it wasn't just monsoon season, it was the demons coming to Beacon Hills."

"And they're going to be coming for you too," Malia continues, "they want you just as bad as we do, probably more because we already have Annalise on the team. But they can't have you - they're the bad guys, Nolan. There's a stereotype about demons for a reason and it's because they're possessing monsters who are hellbent on bringing hell to earth."

"This is a lot," Annalise says, tapping her fingers against the bottom of the pink donut box, "I know this is a lot. Seeing me alive is, I'm sure, a lot more than any one person can quite digest, but we need you Nolan. We need you on our side."

"I... you want me to... this is... I need more coffee," Nolan stammers.

Annalise hands the donuts to her brother who is so caught up in his thoughts he doesn't even realize they're in his arms until minutes later when he sets them down on the kitchen table, "You take your time. You think about it. We'll be in touch, okay?" Annalise says with a soft smile.

"O-okay."

"And Nolan, if you see mom... stay away from her."

"Mom is dead, Annalise."

"Demons hardly ever die, Nolan."

 **_TEEN WOLF_ **  

_Three Days After_

Stiles sits besides his dad's hospital bed, watching as the heart monitor beeps and beeps and beeps. Tears are stinging the boy's eyes as his eyes move from the monitor to the seemingly unending abundance of tubes connected to his father, he bites his lips and hopes and hopes that his dad will wake up soon. That he'll wake up now. Right now.

When nothing happens the boy slumps back in his chair, feeling defeated.

Scott comes into the room now with a ham and swiss sandwich from the cafeteria and fruit punch Gatorade from the vending machine down the hall.

"Nothing?" Scott asks as he gives Stiles the sandwich and drink.

"Nothing," Stiles says with a lump in his throat, "Scott, what if... what if he..."

"Don't," Scott says, "don't say it."

"He's all I've got, Scott. It's just me and him. Mom is dead and... what if he dies too? He's been in a coma for three days, Scott, what if he doesn't wake up?"

"He will."

"You don't know that."

"No, but I do know that this hospital has a great staff and that your dad isn't going to just give up. He's a fighter, sorta seems like all the Stilinski's are fighters."

Stiles brushes away a tear, "He's all I've got."

Scott puts his arm around his best friend, "You still got me."

\-------

_Five Days After_

Erica rolls on top of Derek, connecting their lips for what feels like the thousandth time, evoking a low groan from the man's lips.

"You're mine," Derek says as he suddenly gets Erica beneath him, pinning her hands above her head, "and you're never going to be anyone else's."

"Derek," Erica giggles.

"Say it. Say you're mine," Derek says as he kisses her neck in just the right place.

"I'm your's. I'm so your's it's sick."

Derek nips at her skin and kisses up her jaw and to her lips, "That's right you are."

"I'm your's forever," she whispers.

"And ever."

"And ever," she repeats.

Derek kisses down her neck now, then her chest, and then her stomach, stopping when he gets to the waist of her Sushi Pajama bottoms, "Are you ready to prove you're mine? All mine. Forever."

"Yes," she gasps.

"Good."

\-------

_Thirteen Days After_

Camilla and Isaac sit at a booth in Kirk's Diner sharing an order of fries as Nolan and Jackson come and sit down with them.

"How's Lydia today?" Camilla asks the boys, tossing a fry into her mouth in the same breath.

"Same as she was yesterday - borderline catatonic," Jackson replies, "she hasn't left her house in almost two weeks... I'm worried about her."

"She'll be fine," Isaac says, "she's Lydia, she's always fine."

"I don't think so. This is different... this is, well, it's banshee related. It's not like the time we saw Peter all Alpha'd Out at the movie place or when that Darach tried to sacrifice her. This is all in her head."

"Then there's nothing we can do, she just has to work it out for herself," Isaac sighs.

"Cold much?" Nolan snaps, "This is our friend we're talking about. Show a little compassion, Isaac."

"I'm sorry, but I can't do anything to help her and I don't see how dwelling on her is going to solve the problem."

Nolan rolls his eyes as a waitress comes by the table asking Nolan and Jackson if she can bring them anything. Nolan asks for coffee, Jackson a burger. The waitress heads off to retrieve their orders as the bell above the door rings and in walks Roxy Daribon with her friends Mary and Seneca, when she spots the group she rushes over to them asking, "Oh my god, how is Stiles? How's the Sheriff? I feel just horrible, horrible, horrible."

"Stiles is... hanging in there," Nolan tells her.

"The Sheriff is still in a coma though," Camilla adds.

"We'll be sure to pass along your well-wishes," Jackson concludes.

"Thank you. Oh my god, after everything that happened with Stiles and I earlier this summer... I just... I just feel so bad. Almost like it's my fault," Roxy says shaking her head, "Which maybe it is."

"I doubt you had anything to do with a branch hitting the Sheriff's car during the storm, Roxy," Camilla scoffs, "besides that, what happened with you and Stiles is, well, it's neither here nor there. Next time we see Stiles though we'll be sure to let him know you're thinking of him and his dad."

"Thank you. Well, I better get back to the girls," Roxy says as she struts back over to her friends.

"What a vapid, vapid girl," Jackson says, shaking his head.

"At least her parties are fun," Isaac states, "I gotta head to baseball practice. We're on a losing streak ever since Graham quit as assistant coach. The dude was a total tool, but at least he knew how to coach a team."

"I should go too, I promised my dad that I'd make sure the house was clean when him and Susan got back from Mexico tonight and right now it looks like a hurricane, a tornado, and a tsunami had an orgy in our home."

"How are the newlyweds?" Nolan asks.

"Newly wed," Camilla replies, "I think they're having a good time in Mexico. I miss my dad like crazy though, I've never gone this long not seeing him before."

"Having that whole big house to just us has been really nice, though," Isaac smirks.

"I can imagine," Jackson says as the waitress comes back with Nolan's coffee and Jackson's burger.

"We've been fucking like crazy," Camilla states.

Jackson pushes the burger away, "Yeah, I figured as much... and now I'm not hungry."

Isaac throws a few dollars onto the table and stands, "See you two later."

"Bye queens," Camilla laughs as she and Isaac scurry out of the diner.

Nolan takes a few slow sips of his black coffee and eventually Jackson digs into his burger. The two sit in silence until finally the werewolf asks, "Have you seen your sister at all since that night in the woods?"

"Yes," the auburn haired boy sighs.

"And?"

"I'm a demon," Nolan smiles, "now where's that waitress? I want to order some pie."

\-------

_Fifteen Days After_

Lydia lays in her bed staring at the ceiling. Although the room is quiet, Lydia hears voices in her head - screaming. Tears are streaming down the girl's face as she hears Allison's voice in her head, Kate Argent's voice, Gerard Argent's, Victoria Argent's, Boyd's, Peter's, Cora's...

_PleaseLydiaPleaseI'mstuckhereIneedhelp!HELPME!_

_KillemallKillemallKillemallKillemall_

_DieDIEDIEDIEdie d i e DIE!DIE!DIEDIEIEIEIDIEDIEDIEDIE! I D I E D BECAUSEOFTHEM!DIE!_

_TellDerekIlovehim_

_Whowoudl'vethoughtI'dhavetotalktoyouagain? Rememberyourbirthday,Lydia?_

_Thosegoddamnwolvesnearlyruinedmyson'swedding_

_PleaseLydia,HelpME!HELPHELPHELP H E L P_

The girl shuts her eyes and feels like she's spinning. Her stomach churns as the voices get louder.

"Lydia," Natalie Martin says as she peeks her head in her daughter's room, "honey, are you alright?"

"I'm fine mom," the red haired girl manages to spit out.

"You haven't been eating. Maybe we ought to take you to the doctor, get you all checked out?"

_Shethinksyou'recrazy_

_youarecrazy_

_CrazyLydia_

_LoonyLydiaLoonyLydiaLoonyLydia_

_Poorlittlegirl_

_LydiaPLEASEHELPMEYOUHAVETOHELPMEPLEASEHELPME_

_we'redeadwhyarewedeadwedidn'tdeservetodie_

_LoonyLydiaLoonyLydia_

_MommyisgoingtoleaveyouatEichenHouse_

_you'lldieinthere_

_PLEASEHELPMEPLEASEHELPMEINEEDHELPLYDIAOHGODTHEPAINITHURTSITHURTS_

"I'll eat tonight, mom. What are we having for dinner?'

"Honey, I really think we should take you to see the doctor," Natalie insists, "something is very clearly wrong. You aren't... you haven't been taking anything have you? I know that your grandmother left some Xanax here last time she came to visit... you didn't dip into that, did you? If you did, you can tell me. I want you to tell me."

"I didn't take any of Nana's Xanax, mother. What are we having for dinner?" Lydia snaps.

"Is salmon okay?"

"Salmon would be wonderful."

Natalie nods and shuts Lydia's door then as the girl says to the voices in her head, "Alright. I've had enough of this. I'm tired of the _Girl, Interrupted_ routine and I am ready to move on so you all need to stop. You need to stop talking and screaming and begging for mercy because I can't give it to you. I can't help any of you because you're dead. Dead and gone."

_Youcanhelpyou'retheonlyonewhocanhelp_

_Helphelphelphelp_

_Stupidlittlegirl_

_ENOUGH,_ Lydia screams in her head. She screams so loudly in her own mind that she swears her entire brain shakes. Blood begins to dribble out of her ears as she continues to scream at the voices in her head. She screams louder than she's ever screamed before and suddenly she realizes she's screaming out loud. Louder and louder still. At this point the girl figures that he scream is at a frequency so high that only dogs - or werewolves - would be able to hear it.

When she stops she feels weak. Her throat feels raw, her forehead is slick with sweat, but for the first time in a long time there are no voices. No voices in her head.

All Lydia hears is the sound of silence.

\------- 

_Nineteen Days After_

Camilla sits at her desk, staring at the framed picture she has of her and Allison at her birthday party in the fall. The two girls are laughing, it seems like it's been forever since Camilla has laughed, really laughed. Sides hurting, gasping for air laughed. Everything used to be easy, fun... but now? Now it was like a never ending game of Sudoko.

The girl gets up and pulls her hair into a bun as she walks downstairs to get some pudding from the fridge. Her dad was at work right now and Susan was at the mall buying a new comforter for her and Ron's bed with Piper. As the girl's bare feet make a sticking sound as she walks down the stairs she picks up on another set of footfalls in her dad's office.

Heart in her throat she grabs an umbrella from the coat rack and walks toward her dad's office, ready to fight.

Pushing the door open Camilla pulls the umbrella back and swings, only to have the weapon ripped from her hands in the same minute by none other than her Uncle Chris. The girl frowns and says breathlessly, "What the hell, Chris? You should know better than to sneak up on a werewolf hunter!"

"Camilla, please," Chris scoffs as he sets the neon-colored makeshift weapon onto Ron's heavy, oak desk, "I used to change your diapers. If there's any werewolf hunter in the world that I'm not scared of it's you. Nice form by the way, if I wasn't as experienced as I am you probably could've given me a concussion."

"What are you doing here?" Camilla asks.

"I wanted to talk to your dad, but I see he's already at the bank for the day."

"Talk to him about what?"

"It's something that really only concerns he and I, but since he's not here it just isn't meant to be," Chris tells his niece, "I'll just get help from someone else. Your dad probably wouldn't have been all that helpful anyway."

"You don't think the man who eats cake by the truckload would be able to help you? That's crazy."

"He has sort of lapsed on the Hunter Diet, that's for sure," Chris laughs, "hey, are you alright? You look... pensive."

Camilla shrugs, "There's just a lot going on. A lot of unplanned things happening."

"Unplanned?"

Camilla opens her mouth to respond when both her and Chris hear the front door open and Susan hollering, "Camilla, I bought four comforters! I need help picking one!"

"You should probably..." Chris trails off.

"Yeah, I should. Do you want me to tell my dad you..." Camilla trails.

"No, no, it's okay. You go deal with Susan. I'll slip out the back, believe it or not I'm not in the mood to choose between comforters A, B, and C."

"Don't forget about D," Camilla smirks, thinking about how much she regrets the D. Isaac's D. How she'd give anything to not have to be dealing with what she's dealing with right now.

"Pink with ruffles is a no, right?" Susan hollers from the front.

"It's a  _hell_ no, Susan! My father owns a lot of guns, not a lot of feather boas!" Camilla shouts back, leaving her uncle in the office.

Chris watches as Camilla leaves, thinking how much like Allison the girl is. How she's strong like Allison, how her perseverance is just like that of Allison's.

He knows what will happen next is what is right for everyone

\-------

_Twenty-One Days After_

Melissa places a blanket over Stiles and, crutches in tow, walks out of the Sheriff's room. It was past visiting hours, and while she still wasn't in the right shape to be working, the nurses at the hospital were more than willing to overlook her staying so late to visit the older Stilinski - to check up on not only him, but also on his son.

As the curly haired woman walks down the hallway she smiles as she passes her friends on the staff - Nurse Debbie, Nurse Olivia, and Dr. Prescott standing at the Nurse's Station talking about a patient in room 443 who's family had just decided to take him off life support smile and wave at her, the night janitor Ralphie nods at her merrily as he continues to mop. It is when she sees a young woman with shoulder length, mousy brown hair in a pair of pink scrubs that she stops.

"Melissa McCall?" the girl asks, coming up to the woman.

"The one and only," Melissa smiles, "can I help you?"

"Hi, I know that you aren't back to work yet, but Nurse Deena told me you were here tonight and I wanted to meet the woman I'd be shadowing next week."

"Oh, you're the new transfer?"

"Fresh from Duke Regional," the girl chuckles, "I'm Malia."

\-------

_Twenty-Five Days After_

Scott is nearly to his motorcycle when he hears footsteps. A man. Scott feels tense and he isn't sure why as he whips around, fists clenched, only to see Chris Argent standing behind him.

"Hello, Scott," the man says, his voice as gruff as ever.

"Hey, Mr. Argent, how are you?" Scott asks, unclenching his fists as he speaks.

The man nods, "I'm alright. Thanks. Listen, Scott, I need a favor."

"A favor? From me?"

Again, the man nods, "Yes, I need a favor from you."

"What is it?"

"I need you to kill me."

\-------

 

 


	26. Could We Start Again, Please? (4x14)

Nolan fills Jackson's coffee cup and then sets the pot back down on the hot plate behind him. With a sigh he says, "My sister has been trying to get in touch with me."

"Really?" Jackson asks, taking a sip of the bitter, hot liquid.

"She's called, she's texted, she's shown up at my house, she's done just about everything short of smoke signals. Does it make me a terrible person that I don't want anything to do with her though?" the auburn haired barista asks, "For the last nine years she was dead, only not dead. She was lying about being dead, that's reason to not speak to someone, right?"

"Your feelings are completely justified."

"Plus with her little sidekick Malia running around the hospital… it's like she's just invading my town. Like she's an alien here to abduct us all."

Jackson shakes his head, "You're having issues, Stiles' dad has been in a coma for nearly a month, Lydia has been holed up in her house since the day after the wedding and we start senior year next week. What a whirlwind summer."

"I can't wait for college," Nolan sighs.

At the end of the counter an elderly woman with a mess of curly white hair waves her hand and says, "Sweetheart, could I get some more decaf please?"

"Absolutely, I'll be right with you," Nolan smiles, "are we still on to go see Lydia when I get off work tonight?"

Jackson nods his head, "Yeah. Would you mind stopping by the video rental place to pick up  _The Notebook_? If Lydia won't come out of hiding the least we could do is have a nice little movie night with her."

"No problem. I better get the lady her coffee."

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Ben drums a pen against his desk, his other hand resting firmly under his chin. His eyes scream for sleep, something he hadn't been doing much of lately. Though red and dry, his eyes scan the pages in front of him, searching and waiting for an answer.

Much like every other time, he finds nothing substantial. No matter what lead he gets, what trail he follows, he could not, for the life of him, solve the many mysteries of Beacon Hills.

But that didn't mean he was going to give up. At this point it wasn't merely the thrill of solving cold cases. It was personal now. He  _had_  to find the truth out one way or another.

Breaking him from his focus, Ben hears a phone ring from up at the front. Connie is short and quick on the phone, her voice responding in little chirps to the person on the other end.

Once she hangs up the phone, Ben watches as Connie scurries over to the sheriff's office and knocks on the door timidly.

"What is it?" an angry voice calls out, a voice Ben hated to hear nowadays.

"Um, sorry, Sheriff. But I just got a call for a domestic disturbance over on Yule Street. It sounds pretty bad," Connie answers, her voice unsure.

Connie waits for a response, her face full of worry. Without warning the door of the office swings open and the sheriff stands there, hands on hips.

"Is anyone dying?" the sheriff asks.

"No, Sheriff."

"Is the whole town in danger?"

"No, Sheriff."

"Well then why in the hell did you think it was necessary to bother me with this?" anger is evident on the sheriff's face.

Connie winces at the loudness of the sheriff's voice, "I-I'm sorry, Sheriff. It's just that Stil—"

"I swear to God if you bring up that comatose loser I will fire you on the spot, Connie," Donna spits out.

"Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry, I just thought—"

"Well you thought wrong," Donna interrupts. "I am nothing like old Sheriff Stilinski, and you need to get that through your head. I do not care about small disturbances. Stilinski wasted good time and money on shit like that, and as long as I'm sheriff, that's not the way it works around here anymore. Got it?"

Connie nods, her eyes full of fright. Her small hands are clasped in front of her, her knuckles white from gripping so hard.

With that, Donna heads back into her office, slamming the door.

Ever since the sheriff was in a car accident almost two months ago, Donna took over as sheriff, and the whole department had changed.

Ben wasn't sure how much longer they would last.

\-------

Scott taps his finger on Chris Argent's desk as he says, "It can be anything, it just has to be one of her personal items."

"Would a picture work?" the older man asks.

"Uh, yeah, I think they used that with Erica," Scott replies.

Silence fills the office. Both men's minds occupied with the same thoughts, but with different concerns. Scott's heart pounds in his chest from nerves, but he doesn't hear the same pounding in Chris' chest.

The teenager raises an eyebrow and asks, "Aren't you scared."

Chris shakes his head no, "If this works it'll be worth it. You're sure you know what you're doing?"

Scott nods, "Pretty sure. I know what the symbols look like and as long as I carve them in… everything should work. You're completely sure you want to do this?"

There's a vibration on the table and when Scott looks down at Chris' cellphone he says the caller ID come across as Leilani Kahananui. Scott's eyes move from the phone screen and back up to Chris in no time at all, a sour expression on his face.

"I ended things with her," Chris explains, "she's not taking it well, but she'll get over it. She'll have to."

"So you're sure?"

"I'm sure."

Scott nods and swallows hard, "Okay, I'll meet you at the cemetery at 9:30."

\-------

With a bag of fast food in his hand, Ben pushes through the front doors of the hospital. He immediately takes the path he had gotten so used to. Turn right, elevator, second floor, turn right, head into room 215.

Sitting in the same chair he always did, Stiles snores, a half-read sports magazine resting in his lap.

Ben coughs loudly, waking the boy up and scaring him at the same time. The magazine falls to the floor as Stiles twists violently.

"Didn't I tell you not to wake me up like that? You know I don't do well when people wake me up," Stiles spits out, his hand resting on his fast-beating heart.

"My bad, bro. I brought you a burger," Ben offers, tossing the bag over to Stiles.

Stiles immediately digs into the bag, shoving back the wrapping on the burger and pressing it into his mouth. He moans from the taste.

"Slow down there, kid," Ben laughs.

Stiles shakes his head while still chewing, "No way. I'm so sick of hospital food you have no idea."

"Well maybe if you left once in a while you wouldn't have to eat it all the time."

Stiles's face saddens, and he glances over at the man lying on the hospital bed.

"Yeah… But I can't leave him here alone. He needs me."

Ben smiles softly, understanding his desire to stick by his father's side.

Turning back to his burger, Stiles moans again, obviously enjoying his meal.

A small knock comes from the door, and Ben and Stiles turn to see Melissa in the doorway.

"Hello, boys," she says with a smile. With crutches underneath her arms, she makes her way into the room slowly.

"It is great to see you back in those nurse's scrubs again, Melissa," Stiles tells her, nodding his head.

The woman smiles, "Obviously, I'm not in the best condition but it is great to be back and working."

Melissa had broken her leg badly from the car accident, and even a month and a half later, she still wasn't healed. It would take her a while.

Stiles shoves another bite of burger into his mouth, and Melissa shakes her head.

"But it does help that I have an assistant now," she mentions.

"Assistant? What assistant?" Stiles asks, his mouth full of food.

Almost immediately after he says that, a pretty girl walks into the room with a medical chart in her hands.

Stiles's mouth drops open and a bit of food falls out.

"Stiles, Ben, this is Malia, she's my new assistant. She's new to town and new to all the crazy, so try to keep things easy for her, okay?" Melissa introduces everyone.

Malia smiles at both Ben and Stiles, who stare at her very obviously.

"I'm Ben," the man says after he regains his speech, standing up to shake her hand.

"Malia, nice to met you," she says back, smiling.

Ben stares intently into her eyes, forgetting to let go of her hand for a few seconds.

With his food back into his mouth, Stiles introduces himself too.

"Stiles. Yep, that's me," he says awkwardly.

"Nice to meet you too."

The two nurses do their rounds on the sheriff, both Ben and Stiles watching Malia the whole time. Once they finish, both boys are sad to see her go.

"We'll be back later," Melissa tells them. "Try to keep your food in your mouth, okay Stiles?"

"Haha, you… you got it," he assures her.

Ben watches Malia as she walks out, but before she goes, she turns back to look at him and smiles.

\-------

Nolan tosses his apron onto a table in the back room of Java Pit, sighing as the black uniform sails in the air. He was finally off work.

He heads over to the punch clock and types in his employee ID, a number he could type with his eyes closed considering how much he works. 7134.

With the final beep, Nolan is officially punched out. A free man.

He pushes his way out of the door that leads behind the counter. And after that he swings around the counter on his way out of the store, nodding to his friend Melanie as he leaves. That's when a hand grabs his arm, nearly making him yelp from surprise.

Turning to face the mysterious grabber, Nolan spots the one face he really, really didn't want to see. Even if it was a face that vaguely mirrored his own.

Dressed in a teal sundress is his sister, Annalise, a hopeful expression on her face.

"Nolan, please, just give me a minute to talk. I—"

"Can it, Buffy the Demon Slayer. I don't want to talk to you. I don't want to talk to any of your friends. And I definitely don't want to get anywhere near this civil war between you and Mom. So back off," he stops her, spilling out the words like he had practiced them over and over. Which he had.

"Please," his sister begs. "You don't understand any of this. I know what you saw and what you heard in the woods that night was scary, and it made us seem bad. But we're not. We're trying to protect you. From them!"

Nolan rips his arm away, "From them?" he says loudly.

Realizing the scene he was about to cause, the boy lowers his voice.

"I haven't seen or heard from you in God knows how long, and I've been fine. No, I've been splendid. And don't pull any of this "saving me" shit, because the people you're supposedly saving me from are who you are too. We're both half demon, Sis. Mom gave us that little curse. So stop pretending to be someone you're not and leave me the hell alone."

With that, Nolan storms out of the store, the bell above the door ringing madly. Annalise watches as he pulls a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, a habit she didn't know he had picked up.

Annalise sighs sadly and spins around in her chair to face the counter where her chai latte sits, undrank.

She rests her forehead in her hands, her mind repeating the last few words her brother said to her.

She lifts her head up and eyes the clock. Malia, her best friend and fellow demon hunter, wouldn't be getting off of work until later, so she had a lot of time to kill. If only she could spend that time with her brother, catching up and keeping him safe.

Annalise knows what trouble her mom is; what trouble all demons are for that matter. She is more than glad that demon hunters had saved her when she was younger, taking her away from what was probably going to be a life of misery as a half demon.

Interrupting her thoughts, a dark-haired man sits down beside her and checks his watch, a small frown appearing on his face.

"Someone late for a date?" Annalise asks, striking up conversation. She isn't one to be shy and timid around guys. She knows what she wants and she usually gets it.

The man glances over at her, scratching his beard as he does. He barely looks at her when he says, "Something like that."

Annalise smiles, beginning to turn on the charm, "That's too bad, it looks like you could use a little company."

A blonde appears next to him, seeming to come out of nowhere. Annalise didn't even have to look to know the girl was shooting daggers at her.

"Sorry I'm late babe, I saw Nolan in the parking lot and said hi," the girl tells him.

Annalise's breath catches in her throat when she hears his name. These people must be some of his friends.

"Here, I'll make it up to you," the blonde offers, grabbing the man's face and kissing him hard, not bothering to keep things PG. It was obvious she was doing it just for Annalise's sake.

With a small smirk, Annalise grabs her purse and stands up from her chair.

Erica watches as the girl walks away, and she eventually pulls back from Derek.

"Damn, what's gotten into you?" Derek asks, breathing heavily, his hand firm against the small of Erica's back.

The blonde smiles at her boyfriend, grabbing his other hand and pulling him up from his chair.

"Hopefully you," she says seductively, leaning in to kiss him again.

With that, she leads him towards the back of the coffee house, towards where the bathrooms are.

"Erica, what are you doing?" Derek asks, hesitant yet intrigued, as he lets her lead him farther into the back.

"You, silly," she says right as she pushes open the door to the men's bathroom. She lets go of his hand and walks inside, her smile begging him to follow her.

His heart beating fast, Derek follows her, shutting the door as he gets inside.

Erica immediately pounces on him, pressing the man against the bathroom door. Her hands snake around him and one finds itself under his black t-shirt. The other finds the lock on the door and shuts it tight.

\-------

Jackson walks into Lydia's room, not bothering to knock on the door. When he enters he spots Lydia sitting on her bed,  _Great Expectations_  in her hands. The girl doesn't look anything like what Jackson had expected – he thought he would enter the room and see Lydia in sweats, her hair a mess, makeup running down her face, he expected her to look wrecked… but she didn't.

Lydia sat in a light blue dress, her hair over her left shoulder in an intricate fishtail – not a single hair out of place. Her makeup was pristine as well. She looked good. She looked ready to go gallivanting around Beacon Hills.

"Can I help you with something, Jackson?" the girl asks flatly, not looking up from her book.

"Yes, actually. Would you mind getting your ass out of bed and coming into public?" the lacrosse player snaps. "I don't know if you remember your friends or anything, but we all miss you and we're all worried."

"Is that so?" she asks, again lacking any emotion.

"Yes it is. What the hell is with you Lydia? This isn't you."

It's now that Lydia sets her book down. She locks her eyes on Jackson and narrows her gaze, "Did you know that Ethan and Aiden are dead?"

"What?"

"Because I didn't, at least not until last week when I was making myself lunch and they popped up in my head and told me that Graham and his father had killed them. I can't say I'm totally surprised… a couple of werewolves crashing a wedding full of werewolf hunters, totally asking for trouble."

"Lydia why are you…"

The strawberry blonde shrugs and pushes her braid off her shoulder, "I say this because Scott neglected to tell me. People are lying to me, Jackson. Although, I guess I shouldn't be too upset that Aiden is gone – not like he wanted me anyway."

Jackson takes a few steps into the room and sits down on the bed beside Lydia, "What are you talking about?"

"I know it's terribly narcissistic," Lydia continues, "to be complaining about being undesirable to men, considering the man I'm referring to is dead, but the fact remains that… that no one wants me."

"That isn't true."

"Isn't it? You didn't want me; you dumped me like I was hot trash. Not that it mattered, since you're gay, but… still. Stiles is the only boy who's ever truly wanted me and he's… he hasn't been around. Which, again, I'm aware is incredibly narcissistic. His dad is comatose and no one knows if he's going to wake up, but…"

"But he's supposed to love you," Jackson finishes.

Lydia nods and moves closer to the werewolf, "Precisely."

Jackson takes a deep breath, "You make it sound like I'm a monster, Lydia. But I didn't mean to be – I was going through so much when I went to England. So much. I'd died and come back to life, and while that's not too uncommon in our group of friends, it's still a lot and I would be lying if I didn't tell you that I still felt something for you."

"You do?"

"Of course I do, you were my first… everything."

Lydia bats her lashes and places her hand on top of Jackson's, "Sometimes… sometimes I think I still love you."

Jackson inches forward, "You do?"

"Of course I do," Lydia repeats, "you were my first everything."

Neither one is sure who closes the gap between them, but the gap is closed and their mouths are together. It's hot and familiar and both Lydia and Jackson feel almost as though they need each other, like they felt when they first got together. Lydia runs her fingers through Jackson's hair as a soft whimper escapes her lips.

When the two pull apart, confused and aroused, they instantly see Nolan standing in the doorway, an unbelieving expression on his face.

"You have got to be  _kidding_ me!" the boy shouts, throwing the DVD box in his hand at Jackson.

"Nolan it isn't…" Jackson begins, catching the DVD just before it hits him in the face.

"It's not what you think," Lydia semi-shouts.

Nolan scoffs, "Seriously? SERIOUSLY?"

Nolan shakes his head and without a second though storms out of the room and heads down the hall. Not looking back, but hearing both Lydia and Jackson coming after him. It doesn't take Nolan long to get outside of Lydia's house when Jackson catches up with him and shouts his name.

Angrily Nolan turns around, "WHAT?"

"Look, I know how you feel," Jackson begins, but Nolan stops him.

"I don't think you do, because if you did you would turn around and go back inside because you would realize that I am this close to getting in my car and running you down in Lydia's goddamn front yard," Nolan spits through clenched teeth.

Jackson watches in shock as the boy walks to his car and slams the door before tearing off down the road.

\-------

"Goodnight, Stiles," Malia says politely as she exits the hospital room. Even with his first impression as an awkward teenage boy proving to be true, Stiles was actually pretty funny and very sweet for being so devoted to his dad.

Checking her watch, she realizes her shift is over, but she heads over to wear Melissa sits to make sure she could leave.

Once Melissa gives her the OK, Malia takes the path out of the hospital, only getting lost twice this time.

Getting used to the large hospital wasn't easy, but Malia was adjusting well, she thought.

The girl checks her phone and sees two texts from Annalise, both were about Nolan's rejection of having a chat with his sister.

She sticks her phone into the pocket of her light blue scrubs, feeling bad for her friend, but also understanding what the boy was going through.

When she steps outside of the hospital doors, a nice, cool breeze hits her face, and she instantly smiles as her brown hair flies backwards.

"Well if that didn't look like your typical commercial for some kind of beauty product, I don't know what else would," a voice says from her left. She turns and spots Ben.

A smile hits her lips, "To tell you the truth, I knew you would be standing there so I had it all planned out just to impress you."

Ben smiles back, touching a hand to his heart, "Well it worked. I am thoroughly impressed."

Malia bites her lower lip, a habit she picked up whenever she got nervous.

"I didn't know you were a cop too," she says after a moment, taking in Ben's uniform. "You weren't wearing it in the hospital."

"I had just got done working out at the gym," he tells her. "And I swear that isn't me trying to impress you, but if that happens to be the case, well then… win-win for me."

"Eh, you'll have to do better than that," Malia flirts, stepping a bit closer to the officer as he does the same.

"Well I'd love to try. My shift is just about starting, but how would you like to meet up for a drink sometime?" he offers cautiously.

Malia searches his eyes for a hint of anything but sincerity, but when she finds nothing but niceness, she answers.

"A drink would be nice."

\-------

Nolan sits at the bar and watches as the bartender fills another shot glass for him, without any hesitation the boy throws back the drink – so numb he doesn't even feel the burn. Again he watches the bartender fill the shot glass for him, briefly they make eye contact and the bartender says, "This one is on me."

Nolan smiles, "Thanks."

A minute passes as Nolan stares at the shot glass when a voice calls from behind him.

"What's the emergency?" Camilla asks as she sets her purse down on the barstool beside the one she sits down on herself.

"Wanna play a really fun game called: My life sucks. I'll win."

Camilla shakes her head, "I… I don't think you wanna play with me."

"Oh, I do," Nolan laughs, throwing back the tequila shot, "On top of all the crazy demon family drama, I just walked in on Jackson and Lydia mid-makeout. I just saw my boyfriend liplocked with his ex-girlfriend and then they tried to tell me that it wasn't what it looked like, but it was pretty damn clear that it totally was."

Camilla nods slowly, "I'm pregnant."

Nolan eyes widen and his mouth falls open.

"I win."

"What? How?"

"Well, when a boy and girl are really horny they shirtless and pantsless hug and then…"

Nolan stops the girl from continuing, "Okay, I know the how, but… how? Does Isaac know?"

Camilla shakes her head no, "Not yet."

The two sit silently. Camilla grabs a peanut from the bowl in front of her and cracks it – she doesn't even really like peanuts but its something to do. Her life feels like it's in limbo, like everything is floating around her and she can't grab on to anything to keep it still. All she wants is a drink…

Nolan runs a hand through his hair, "Sorta puts my boy problems in perspective."

"For what it's worth," Camilla begins, "Jackson is a pretty-boy asshole and you can do so much better."

"You think?"

"I know. You've got some grade A DSL on you Nolan Hayes. Any little gayboy would be lucky to have you, forget that jockey twink."

"You're pregnant," Nolan says.

"Yeah, yeah I am."

"Joey, I'm gonna need another shot."

\-------

Chris slowly begins to unbutton his shirt staring at the headstone in front of him. His heart is beginning to race now. The man squeezes the picture of Allison he holds in his hand tightly, imagining it's her hand.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Scott asks.

"Yes, dammit Scott," Chris snaps, "I want Allison back even if I won't be around to see her. She deserves to be alive, she deserves it more than I do. We already dug up her grave all you have to do is carve the Resurrection Triquetra into my chest and she'll be back."

Scott nods and shuts his eyes. He focuses for a minute, pushing with all his will to allow the demonwolf to come through. He thinks of his pain, how much he misses Allison and as the memories of her flood his mind he can feel the change beginning.

Scott's nose and mouth begin to morph into a snout, long teeth extending, when he opens his eyes they glow red in the night, and when he looks down at his hands he sees long, sharp claws.

Chris scowls and swallows hard, "Tell Allison I love her."

Scott hears this and wants to reply, but the animal in him doesn't allow it and he reaches his hand out and begins to draw the ankh on the man's chest, then the ka, and finally the amenta. Inside the triquetra he draws the maat for balance and suddenly the wind picks up and thunder cracks above the two men in the cloudless sky. Scott's animal nature is beginning to get stronger and stronger and he can't contain himself any longer. He lunges at Chris and begins to tear him apart.

"ALLISON!"

\-------

Camilla lies on the couch, her back pressed against Isaac's hard body as he lays behind her, one of his arms gripped right around her abdomen.

They were watching The Dark Knight Rises once again. Camilla had a thing for Tom Hardy and Isaac had a thing for Hines Ward's cameo.

Having seen the movie more than enough, Isaac leans down to kiss Camilla's neck, paying more attention to her than the movie.

Camilla leans back into her boyfriend, closing her eyes at the sweet feeling his kisses were giving her.

Isaac squeezes her abdomen, pushing her closer against him, but Camilla freezes.

"What's wrong, babe?" he asks.

Camilla doesn't answer, but she removes herself from his embrace and sits up. Her face is turned away, but Isaac can tell she's upset.

She tugs the gray blanket she and Isaac had been sharing and pulls it around herself.

When she faces Isaac, he sees tears falling down her face.

"Camilla," he says instantly, sitting up as well to move closer to her. "Baby, what's wrong? Did I do something wrong?"

The brunette pulls in a shaky breath, and casts her eyes down to the hem of Isaac's shirt, unable to look her boyfriend in the eyes.

"No, babe. We did something wrong," she tells him after a minute. Her voice cracks as she speaks.

"Camilla, you've got to give me more than that. Please. Tell me what's wrong," he pulls her closer to him, but she tugs herself away.

"Isaac, please. I don't want you to hate me," she begins sobbing.

"I could never hate you. Camilla, you're scaring me."

Camilla's body shudders with another sob as she tries to form the words.

"Isaac, I'm so sorry."

"Camilla, sorry for what?"

Not being able to take it any longer, she spits it out, "I think I'm pregnant."

Isaac's eyes widen, but he doesn't get the time to react, because within a millisecond, the door to the loft bursts open.

On alert, Isaac jumps up, ready to defend himself and his pregnant? girlfriend.

But his readiness to fight wasn't necessary, because in the doorway stands Scott, clutching a frail, terrified, but most importantly alive girl in his arms…

Allison.

\-------

_**A/N: Boom, bitches. She's baaaaack! But how? Why? Is she normal? These things we cannot tell you, but if you keep reading, you just might find out. We introduced more characters, yay! Of course, any Teen Wolf fan knows Malia, but we decided to give her a new story and a new age since she's like, 30, IRL. And then there's Annalise, who in our minds is played by Lyndsy Fonseca. If you couldn't tell, this chapter takes place about a month and a half after the wedding, and things have obviously changed. So stay tuned, kiddos! We've got a lot in store for you. -Narly** _


	27. While You Were Sleeping (4x15)

Allison opens her eyes. The feeling was still amazing to her. She could open her eyes. She could wake up. She was alive.

Right when she opens them, she gazes at Camilla, who was staring right back at her, her eyes puffy.

"I'm still here," Allison says quietly, grabbing one of Camilla's hands underneath the blanket they were sharing. Allison and Camilla had slept in Isaac's bed, not wanting to be apart, while Isaac took the spare bedroom and Scott was on the floor of Isaac's room.

"I feel like you're just going to disappear any second now," Camilla chokes out, a tear slipping out, landing on the already-tear-soaked pillow.

"I'm here now. That's all that matters," Allison whispers, pulling her cousin closer. They had never really been touchy-touchy before, but Allison's… death had brought the two girls closer. They basically just didn't want to let each other go.

"And I'm not letting you leave. Ever," Camilla promises, shutting her eyes against the bright shine of the moon.

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Nolan lies in his bed, the room spinning even with his eyes closed. His head is pounding and although it's after midnight and he's been in bed for fifteen minutes all he wants is a cigarette. Slowly he rolls over and his feet bump into something, not remembering his cat being in the room with him the boy opens his eyes and swallows a scream.

Sitting at the end of his bed is a woman with dark brown hair, intense eyes, and elegantly arched brows. She reaches out and cups the boy's face and says his name in a raspy voice, "Nolan."

The boy swallows hard, "W-who are you?"

Swiftly, the stranger drops her hand and sighs, "I guess it would make sense… you not recognizing me."

"Should I recognize you?"

"It's me Nolan. It's mom."

Head spinning, Nolan gets up from his bed and rushes to the tiny off-white trash can and vomits. He isn't sure if it was the ten shots of tequila or the undead, fresh faced, demon mother that sits before him that caused the barfing – maybe a mix of both.

Nolan wears a confused expression as he asks, "How?"

"It's a demon thing," Kelly explains, "every thirty five years or so a demon has to get a new host. Which sounds barbaric and evil, but it really isn't. The human we use doesn't feel anything… at least not initially. As time goes on they try to regain control of their bodies and it makes them insane."

Taking a cautious step toward his mother Nolan asks, "So the woman I spent my whole life thinking of as mom… she isn't actually my mom?"

"Technically, no she isn't."

"I think I'm gonna puke again."

"Come on bugaboo. It's me, its momma," Kelly urges.

Nolan puts a hand up, "No. Don't call me sweet little pet names. Don't act like everything is all peachy fucking keen. This is crazy. You're crazy. This whole goddamn family belongs in Eichen House."

Kelly stands up, "You need time to process all of this. I understand that. I'm going to go see your father, let him know I'm home. Hopefully I'll be better received by him." The woman makes her way to the door and places her hand on Nolan's shoulder, "I missed you, darling."

\-------

"Wake up," calls a gruff voice. "Seriously, Stiles wake the hell up!"

Reluctantly Stiles opens his eyes, sunlight pouring in through the window in his father's room. He looks at his dad, smiling at him with eyes wide open and wonders for a minute who had called his name – what with his father in a coma and all.

Wait.

 _His eyes are open_? Stiles wonders to himself, then realizing what he was seeing beams and jumps from his chair/bed.

"You're awake!" the boy shouts lunging at his father to hug him. Without realizing it Stiles begins to cry clutching his father closer to him, "Don't ever do this ever again for the rest of eternity."

The sheriff chuckles and pats his son on the shoulder, "I'll do my best."

Everything seems to move quickly then. Doctors come in and take his father away for tests, he comes back, nurses wheel him away for another set of tests, next thing he knows its lunch and he has to go to the cafeteria to get him and his father food.

That's when Stiles takes a moment and lets everything sink in.

Suddenly he's crying again as he pulls his phone out and calls Scott.

"Oh my god," Scott whispers, "you're crying."

"My… dad…" Stiles begins, choking on tears.

"Stiles, dude I am so, so sorry."

"Scott, he's awake."

There's silence on the other end and Stiles faintly hears Scott sniffle and realizes that his friend is crying too.

"Thank god," Scott says after a minute of mutual sniffling and silence between both boys.

"I just wanted… will you let your mom know?"

"Of course, absolutely."

Stiles smiles to himself, "Okay, well I gotta go get me and dad food."

"Before you go…"

"Yeah?"

"Allison is alive."

\-------

"I remember going to the Nemeton," Allison recalls, "I remember grabbing a root and breaking it and I remember seeing Malum – he looked like my mother… and I remember rushing to get back to myself before I ran out of time…"

Camilla brushes a tear away, "Then what?"

"Then I just kept running," Allison replies, "and I was running until I woke up in Scott's arms last night."

All the teens exchange a worried glance, Lydia's head is resting on Jackson's shoulder – tears running down her face as she listens to her best friend's story. She can't believe that Allison is in front of her, all the longing, the pain… it's finally over.

"Every now and then I would get glimpses of you guys," Allison continues, "I tried talking to you Lydia…"

"I heard you," Lydia answers, tears coming down more frequently now, "I heard you begging for me to help you but I didn't know how…"

"But you figured it out," Allison replies with a smile, "you got me out."

"Allison, what are you–" Lydia begins to ask when Scott cuts her off.

"I'm just glad you're back," the werewolf says, "it was like I was in slow motion when you were gone."

Silence floats through the room as Nolan, Jackson, Isaac, Lydia, Camilla, and Scott soak in Allison. All are in shock that she's actually sitting in front of them, talking, telling them the story of her time away – and even though they were all aware that she was gone it felt almost as through no time had passed at all.

"I'm really tired," Allison says, "do you think I could go and take a little nap?"

Scott nods and helps the girl up, leading her to the back of the loft. The group hears the door click and they wait a moment before Jackson asks the question they're all wondering.

"How is she alive?"

There's a collective shrug among the teens.

"I don't know," Nolan replies, "a lot of unbelievable things happen, know what I mean?"

The boy stands up and walks toward the kitchen area and knows Jackson is following him without even turning around to look at him. Nolan is in front of the fridge when Jackson puts a hand on his shoulder and stares at him with a pitying expression.

"Nolan…"

"Save it. Honestly, I don't want to hear anything you have to say," Nolan snaps, "you betrayed me."

Jackson shakes his head, "Lydia and I never meant to do that. It was… it was in the moment."

"Yeah, and when I kick you in the nuts that's just going to be 'in the moment' too."

As soon as the words have left Nolan's mouth Lydia appears and says swiftly, "I know you're upset, but you can't tell Stiles what happened. It would hurt him so badly and he just got happy again."

"How do you know? You've been in your room since the wedding and he's been at the hospital," Nolan retorts, "and if you're so worried about him being upset you shouldn't have kissed my boyfriend, Lydia."

"It was stupid and awful, I know that," Lydia admits, "and you don't deserve to be hurt… but if you could have gone back and not seen anything… wouldn't you have preferred that?"

"I would have preferred you two not kissing," Nolan answers flatly.

Jackson's eyes fall to the ground, "I'm so sorry, Nolan."

The words tug at Nolan's heart and he wants to collapse. He wants a drink. He wants a cigarette. He wants to not feel like this anymore. He wishes he could go back to a time where his mother was in an asylum and his sister was dead – which makes him feel terrible.

"Save it," Nolan spits out, fighting back a bout of tears, "if you don't tell Stiles he's going to find out some other way and it'll hurt him worse. I have to go, I'm late for work."

As Nolan gruffly says goodbye, Camilla looks over at Isaac who has a strange expression on his face.

Having made awkward eye contact for most of the day, Isaac randomly stands up from his chair and grabs Camilla's arm lightly, leading her to his bedroom. She follows and allows his grip on her arm, though her head is spinning with worries.

He lets go and moves over to his bed, taking a seat. He pats the spot next to him and looks up at her expectantly.

With a little hesitation, the brunette sidles over to the bed and slowly takes a seat. She inhales deeply and waits for him to speak.

"Camilla. I'm sorry that things got so… messy. I wanted to talk to you, but with Allison back, I couldn't really…"

"I get it," she nods, tucking strands of hair behind her ear and looking down at the floor.

"But babe," Isaac sighs, reaching over and grabbing his girlfriend's hands, wrapping them up in his own, "Baby or not, I love you. And I cannot imagine life without you. Was I expecting to have a kid this young? No. But was I expecting a Kanima to kill my father? Was I expecting to turn into a werewolf? Was I expecting The Root of Evil to shack up in Beacon Hills?"

"I'm guessing the answer is no to all of those but I don't see what it has to do with me being pregnant…"

Isaac chuckles a little, and responds.

"It relates because all those things took me my surprise, but I dealt with them. Some things even made my life 100 times better than it was. What I'm saying is, we'll figure it out. All that matters is we love each other, and if we do have a baby, it'll be the most loved baby to ever come into this damn world. Okay?" he assures her, placing one of his hands over her cheek and looking deeply into her eyes. "It's you and me against the world, babe."

A tear slides down Camilla's face, right onto Isaac's hand, who wipes it away.

Isaac kisses her forehead and looks at her again, "We'll get through this."

Camilla nods and curls up against her boyfriend, happy that he had said exactly what she needed to hear.

"So, when did you take the test?" Isaac asks her after a moment, still cradling the girl against his body.

"I… sorta haven't yet. But I'm a little over two weeks late, and it fits in with the time frame. You know… the wedding rehearsal… no protection…" she drifts off.

"Camilla, you need to take a test."

"I didn't want to until I told you it might be a possibility. I'm scared."

Isaac holds her tighter, rubbing his hands up and down against her.

"Don't be. We'll get one tonight when things settle down. It's going to be okay, Camilla."

She looks up at him, feeling the sincerity in his words.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

\-------

Melissa braces herself by taking a deep breath. In and out.

With her crutches scooting her along, she makes her way across the hospital floor towards the sheriff's room. He was awake and she hadn't seen him yet.

When she gets inside, she can barely fit due to nearly the whole police force being inside the room. She is off duty today, so she can't use her being a nurse as an excuse to push her way through.

Standing beside the door patiently, Melissa struggles to see around all of the men and women blocking her way. She couldn't see the man in the bed, but she could hear his hearty laugh. A laugh she hadn't heard in a long time. A laugh she missed. A laugh that made her heart leap.

Suddenly, Ben spots the woman.

"Hey guys, let's move out of the way. Sheriff's got a special visitor," he announces, gesturing for the many cops to clear a path for Melissa.

When she finally makes it through, slowly but surely on her crutches, she looks right into the eyes of the man she never thought she would see alive again.

"Well, damn, it's great to see you," the man speaks, his voice at a soft tone. For a moment, Melissa forgets they are in a room filled with other people, and it's just her and the sheriff.

"It's great to see your eyes open," she tells him, trying to hold back her tears. The two just look at each other, no more words needing to be spoken.

"Um, Dad. Toleman asked you a question," Stiles interrupts from the side of the bed, his eyes darting awkwardly between the two adults.

"Oh, uh, sorry, Toleman," the man coughs, shaking his head lightly. "What'd you ask?"

"I asked how soon you'd be back in office. Donna's ripping the force to shreds," the cop repeats, a serious look on his face.

"Well, son, considering I just woke up from a coma, I'd say it'll be a while. But who in the hell put Donna in charge?"

Nobody answers the sheriff, they all just shuffle their feet awkwardly until Ben speaks up.

"She kind of just… put herself in charge sir. And once she did, everyone was too afraid to challenge her. She's kind of intimidating," he reveals.

The sheriff rubs his temples and closes his eyes, sighing loudly.

Suddenly, Malia gently pushes her way through the police officers, earning a few appreciative stares from a few of the men, and even one woman.

"I hate to do this, officers, but the sheriff needs his rest. You guys can come back tomorrow," she lets everyone know, holding his medical chart in her hands.

Melissa smiles at the girl, proud of the nurse she was becoming.

The officers say goodbye slowly, and file out of the room. Within minutes, the room is mostly clear except for Stiles, Melissa, the sheriff, Malia, and Ben.

Malia checks on the sheriff, making sure everything is normal, which it is. When she finishes, she looks over at Ben.

"Officer Hunt, I'm sorry to have to do this, but you need to leave as well. Family and staff only," she says with a light smile.

Ben smirks back, and grabs his coat from the back of a chair.

"I'll follow you out, ma'am," turning to the sheriff, he adds, "I'll be back sir. Don't do anything too exciting without me."

Following Malia out the door Ben leans one of his hips against the front desk where the nurse was putting down Stilinski's chart. Glancing over at him for a short second, she smiles, then turns back to her work.

"Now, was it really necessary for you to kick me out?" he asks playfully.

"I guess I could've let you stay but…" Malia starts, moving her wrist forward to check her watch, "My shift ends in about ten minutes so I was going to take you up on that drink offer, but if you'd rather stay with the sheriff, that's fine by me. I've got a bottle of wine and an action movie waiting for me at home."

Ben chuckles, and gazes at Malia, "I'd love to take you out. The sheriff can wait. It's not very often a pretty girl wants to join me for drinks."

Malia smiles, and begins to walk away.

"Meet me out front in fifteen," she calls over her shoulder, much to Ben's delight as he watches her walk away.

\-------

Scott and Allison sit side by side on Ron's couch, as the man himself wipes his tears.

"God, they won't stop," he says, laughing a little. It had been a little over half an hour since Camilla, Isaac, and Scott had broken the news about Allison. "I just never thought I'd see you again sweetheart."

"And I never thought I'd see you wearing a shell necklace," the girl responds softly.

Ron chuckles, "You can't go to Mexico on your honeymoon and not get a shell necklace. I don't think it's possible. Both Susan and I got one."

Susan confirms his statement, pulling her own necklace out from underneath the collar of her shirt with a smile.

"Oh, honey, I just wish you were there for the wedding. Although it was a bit crazy, you would've looked lovely in a bridesmaid dress," Susan tells her honestly.

Allison smiles sadly, "I missed a lot… but… I'm just glad I'm back."

"And you must be starving, right? How would you like some spaghetti? I had just made some for Ron when you all came over, I'm sure it's still warm!" Susan chirps, already standing up to head to the kitchen.

"That sounds good, but I'd really just like to go see my father," Allison reveals. It had been over twelve hours since she'd been back and this was the first time she mentioned him.

"Yeah, we should probably go tell Chris, Dad," Camilla tells her father.

"You're right sweetheart. I'm surprised you haven't seen him yet."

Allison looks down at her hands and says, "Well, I wanted to, but we all just got so swept up. Plus I'm sure he's changed a lot since he, you know, lost me…"

No one says a word, not really sure what to say. Camilla picks at a loose string on one of the blankets resting on the love seat. Scott squirms awkwardly in his spot next to Allison.

"Well, I'm going to use the restroom before we go," Allison tells them, standing up and making her way down the familiar path.

When she is gone Scott bursts out.

"Chris is dead."

"Scott, what? What the hell?" Isaac shouts out.

"Scott, what do you mean?" Ron says at the same time.

Everyone's face fills with shock as they wait for the boy to answer.

Scott talks quickly, emotion obvious in his voice, "He and I started planning to bring Allison back, but Chris refused to sacrifice anyone but himself. He said he would hate himself if anyone else died. Even if it meant he never got to see Allison again. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have let him. We were just both so set on getting her back, I guess I wasn't thinking clearly. I missed her so much, and so did he. Once he made up his mind I don't think anyone could've changed it. I'm so, so sorry."

Scott begins to weep burying his head in his hands.

"He's dead?" Allison squeaks, emerging from the hallway with tears in her eyes, shocking everyone.

\-------

Putting his car into park, Nolan faintly sees a car pull up behind him in front of his house. Confused, Nolan gets out and takes a look at the vehicle behind him – a sleek Porsche. Jackson. Rolling his eyes, Nolan begins to walk toward his front door.

"Wait," Jackson protests, "Nolan, seriously wait."

"Leave me alone," the boy responds, not looking at the werewolf behind him.

"No, I'm not going to leave you alone. Not until you accept my apology."

Nolan stops dead in his tracks, "You want me to accept your apology? I caught you making out with your ex-girlfriend and you want me to take an 'I'm sorry'? Are you fucking joking, Jackson? My ex-boyfriend, Milton Berle."

"Please…"

"No. I am a sink with an open drain, anything you say goes right through me. I want you to stay the hell away from me, Jackson. I want you to pretend like we never met, that's what I plan to do. I don't want to think about how…"

"How what?"

"How you made me fucking love you and how you fucking broke my heart by making out with, not only your ex, but one of my best friends."

It's then Jackson grabs Nolan's hand and pulls him to him, their lips lock and Nolan pushes away, "No… Jackson… no.." but when Jackson reconnects their lips Nolan doesn't push him away. The kiss deepens as they make their way up the front porch and into the house.

Nolan's dog barks slightly as they enter the empty, dark house and go up the stairs and into Nolan's bedroom.

"That's a break up kiss," Nolan says breathlessly as Jackson shuts the bedroom door and removes his shirt.

"Break up kiss," he repeats as he grabs Nolan by the waist of his pants and begins to unbutton them.

"Jackson…"

"Shhh, we're breaking up," the werewolf replies as he turns Nolan around and drops to his knees.

\-------

"She's finally asleep," Camilla tells Isaac as she walks deeper into the kitchen where th boy sits, his shoulders heavy. "I've never seen her cry so hard."

She shakes her head and sits down next to Isaac, who grabs her hand understandingly.

"It's a sad, sad situation. I'm sorry you lost your uncle."

Camilla sighs, "I just can't believe he did it. And Scott let him. I mean, I wanted Allison back too, and I even considered sacrificing myself, but… I could never do it. I love Allison so much, but I love life too. Does that make me a bad person?"

Squeezing her hand, Isaac says, "No, sweetheart. Chris had nothing in his life. Losing his wife and his daughter? It couldn't be easy. No matter what. And knowing he had a chance to bring his own blood back, his own daughter, I'm sure he thought there was no other option. He was so dedicated to Allison. I would be too, to my children."

Camilla shudders at the thought, remembering her own predicament.

"Speaking of children, we should probably take that test now while Allison's asleep. I feel like it's going to be a long night," Camilla says grimly.

Isaac nods and watches as Camilla leaves the room to grab her purse, where she had stashed the pregnancy test Isaac had bought earlier when he claimed he was running to the store just for things for Allison.

Re-entering the kitchen, Camilla pulls the test out of her purse and stares at it.

"I'll be back, I guess," she says after a moment, taking a step towards the bathroom that was just off of the kitchen.

"I'm coming too. I told you, it's you and me, babe," Isaac stands up, following the girl into the small, blue-painted room.

A few minutes later, the two were standing in the bathroom, waiting. The little white stick resting on the bathroom counter.

"How much longer?" Camilla asks, looking at her wrist even though there was no watch there. Her face was pale.

Isaac checks his own watch and sighs.

"Any minute now."

He moves closer to his girlfriend and grips her hand, ready for anything.

Camilla's eyes widen as she thinks of something.

"Babe, what are the chances of the baby being born a werewolf?" she asks.

Isaac's eyes are still glued to the test and he moves to take it off of the counter, holding it up in front of Camilla so she could see the freshly-appeared results.

"Looks like we won't have to worry about that just yet," Isaac says with a small smile.

Camilla beams and wraps her arms around her boyfriend, "Oh thank God!"

\-------

Malia and Annalise don't say anything to each other as they watch the two hunters come into their apartment. The man, Trevor Shane, drops his bags to the floor and glares at the place as the woman, Lisa Miller, gracefully enters and giggles like a little girl.

"Couldn't you have found a nicer place," Trevor asks.

"This is the best we could do," Annalise replies.

Malia scoffs, "It's not like you guys gave us a lot of cash – and the hospital hasn't paid me yet and Annalise won't start making money until the school year starts."

"It'll do," Lisa sighs, "it's charming, I think."

"Truthfully it doesn't matter," Trevor snaps, "we're here to get read of the demons and get Nolan Hayes to join us. That's all. Having a nice apartment doesn't matter. What matters is accomplishing the mission, a mission which Annalise claimed she could have done herself."

Annalise forces a laugh, "I apologize that my brother doesn't trust me after I faked my death."

"Don't be smart," Trevor glares.

"We'll get him," Lisa replies, "he'll come with us. When he learns how evil the demons are he'll come with us. I know he will… Annalise did, didn't she?"

Malia rolls her eyes, "I'm sure his mother has made contact by now. She's had plenty of time to find a host and it'll be easy for her to rejoin society since no one in town knows what Kelly Hayes is supposed to look like since when she was alive she was locked up in that asylum."

Annalise feels her face tighten at the mention of her mother, "I just want to protect my brother."

"Oh we will," Trevor assures her, "but you know what we'll have to do if he won't come with us."

"Come now, Trev," Lisa scolds, "we just got here, let's not go headfirst into bad cop."

Trevor turns his brown eyes to Lisa, "She needs to understand that if Nolan isn't with us, he's against us and we'll have no choice but to–"

"Kill him," Annalise concludes, "I know. If my brother doesn't agree to help us stop the demons he is one and we have to kill him."

\-------

Isaac sets the last bag of Allison's on Camilla's bedroom floor. His girlfriend looks at him with a sad smile.

"Alright well, I'm heading back to the loft for tonight. Call me if you need anything," he says, grabbing Camilla and kissing her goodbye.

He waves to Allison who was lying in Camilla's bed, a blank expression on her face.

She slowly waves back and tries to muster a smile, but to no avail. When Isaac leaves, Camilla softly shuts the door behind him and immediately takes her shirt off.

"Jesus, Camilla," Allison says quietly. "I forgot how immodest you are."

Her cousin shrugs as she shimmies out of her jeans. She grabs one of Isaac's t-shirts from a drawer and pulls it over her head after taking off her bra. When the t-shirt is on, she pads over to the light switch and flips it off.

Heading back over to her bed, she slides in next to Allison.

"You really aren't wearing pants?" Allison asks.

"Nope," Camilla responds, making herself comfortable underneath the comforter.

Allison sighs and rolls her eyes.

"I'm sad, Camilla," she says after a minute. Camilla looks over at her cousin and spots the tears glistening in her eyes.

"I know."

"I hate that he did this for me. I didn't deserve it."

Camilla rolls onto her side and looks directly at Allison.

"Don't you ever say that again. Your father died for you, and he's not coming back, but do you know how amazing what he did is? Yes it's sad, but Allison, he's giving you your life back. And now you've got it, so you need to honor him. Honor what he did. Make your life mean something. You're meant to be here on this earth. I know it and your father knew it."

Allison looks at her cousin, blinking hard as the tears slid out. She nods after a minute.

"Okay," she whispers.

"Okay?" Camilla repeats.

"Okay."

\-------

 


	28. Hopelessly Devoted To You (4x16)

Camilla wakes up angrily, listening to the alarm blaring one of One Direction's songs playing on the radio.

She slams her hand against the off button and rolls over to cover her face.

"I HATE One Direction," she states, her voice muffled by the pillow.

Isaac chuckles and rubs the sleep from his eyes, "I know you do. Maybe we should set it to a classic rock station instead of the pop hits one."

Camilla lifts her head up and looks at her boyfriend, "Now you're talkin'."

Isaac smiles and moves to put an arm around Camilla.

"I can't believe our senior year starts today. Kill me now," Camilla groans, snuggling against Isaac.

"It'll be okay. You have most of your credits so you have, like, two hard classes. You'll do fine," Isaac reassures her.

"Not if Allison keeps leaving in the middle of the night to be with Scott..."

Isaac looks over and Camilla and shrugs.

"You know she's not doing it on purpose. She loves Scott, she went months without him - she went months dead. Enough about Allison though, I propose you start staying here every night," he suggests with a seductive smile.

Camilla laughs, "Yeah and then I won't be getting any sleep at all!"

"Hey, it's not my fault! I'm just an innocent guy, and then here you come wearing no pants, what is one supposed to do? Just lay there casually while you try and seduce me?"

"Seduce you? As if! You always make the moves on me first!" Camilla argues playfully. She throws the sheets off herself and slides out of the bed. "I need to shower."

Isaac follows her actions and shrugs his t-shirt off, "I'll join you."

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

"You can't miss the first day," the sheriff says sternly, "I'll be fine here by myself."

Stiles rolls his eyes and puts another spoonful of Apple Jacks into his mouth, "It's just school it can wait."

The sheriff flinches at his son's lack of table manners and replies, "No, it can't wait. This is your senior year and you need to make sure every day counts. Now stop arguing with me, finish your breakfast, and get your ass moving."

"Dad you can barely stand on your own and you want me to just leave you?"

"Precisely."

"You're really stubborn, you know that."

"Sorta the pot calling the kettle back there, son."

Just then there is a jingle of keys and in walks Melissa, cast free with a tote bag full of groceries under her arm, "Good morning fellas."

Stiles' eyes dart between his father and his best friend's mother, he quickly finishes his cereal, downs the milk, grabs his backpack and waves goodbye to the adults, "See you later dad. Don't fall into another coma while I'm gone."

"I'll do my best," the man replies as the door shuts behind his son.

"Think he'll ever get used to us?" Melissa asks as she begins to put away the groceries.

"Definitely… well, probably… I hope so."

\-------

Allison's fingers dance across Scott's bare chest. Her heart flutters just imagining his brown eyes opening and looking at her. She leans up slightly and kisses the boy lightly on the cheek something she has missed doing for what still felt like an eternity. As he soft lips make contact with his cheek Scott awakens – the reaction she had hoped for.

"What a great way to wake up," Scott whispers, still half-asleep.

Allison smiles, "I was thinking the same thing."

Scott pulls the girl close and kisses her gently, knowing that he has every day to wake up next to her for the rest of his life, "I wish I didn't have to go to school. I want to spend the day with you."

"So don't go," Allison suggests as the werewolf gets out of bed and begins to get dressed, he catches a glimpse of her in his Blink-182 t-shirt, making him love her and the band even more.

"I can't miss the first day," Scott replies as he pulls on a white Henley, "I already have a rep with the teachers there as either a repetitive-truant or as the kid who leaves halfway through the year. I've gotta start this year off on the right foot."

"But then I'll be by myself all day. All alone. Just me."

Scott grabs a comb and pulls it through his short, curly hair in front of the mirror, "Just until two and then I'm all yours for the rest of the afternoon and night. I promise."

"That's not true," Allison insists as she watches him walk into his bathroom, "you've got your first lacrosse practice after school. You won't be done until probably four or five. That is a lot of Scott-Free time that I don't want to have."

Scott's head pops out of the bathroom, he has a toothbrush in his mouth, "Crap. I forgot I have practice."

"I just want to be able to go to actual school. Spending my days at Camilla and Ron's house while all my friends are busy being regular teenagers is a bummer of massive proportions. I want to be a regular girl, I want to have my senior year."

Scott walks toward her and pulls the toothbrush from his mouth, "I want you to have those things too, I do, but if you go to school today there are going to be too many questions that we can't answer. Everyone thinks that some cult leader sacrificed you and if you come to school all gorgeous and living… well, the whole cover up goes out the window."

Allison's eyes fall, "I know."

"I'm really sorry, Allison."

"This just isn't how I pictured my senior year going. This isn't how I pictured my life going, actually."

"Same here," Scott agrees.

"We're never going to be regular kids, are we?"

Scott just shakes his head.

\-------

Erica eyes her schedule and frowns.

"PE, seriously?" she pouts, shoving the paper into her backpack.

"Yeah I have it too!" Camilla reveals, grabbing her own schedule. "I think it's required this year or something."

Lydia nods, "I think if you're not in a sport, they make you take it. Thanks Michelle Obama."

Erica laughs, "Well I have it third, what about you guys?"

"Same!" Camilla says excitedly.

Lydia smiles, "Looks like we'll all be dodging balls together."

"Sounds like normal," Camilla shrugs.

Erica shakes her head, "Well since I'm graduating early, I'll have to leave you eventually."

"Tell me again why you are graduating early?" Camilla groans as the three walk slowly down the hallway, in no hurry to get to class.

"Tell me why you guys aren't!" Erica exclaims. "We're more than high school. Our lives aren't normal, why are we trying to treat them like they are?"

Lydia purses her lips in thought, understanding Erica's argument.

Before anyone can say anything more, Camilla's arm shoots out and stops all three girls in their tracks.

"Who is that gorgeous piece of ass?" she whispers loudly, directing her eyes towards a man who looked about early twenties.

Erica and Lydia stare, but neither one can identify the man.

From nowhere, Roxy walks up to them and smiles knowingly.

"That's Mr. Moore, the new PE teacher. I never thought I'd be happy that PE was required!" the girl laughs as she walks away, her messenger bag swinging behind her.

"Oh my damn," Camilla says.

"You can say that again," Erica replies.

Elsewhere, Jackson watches as Nolan walks down the hallway, stopping to talk with his friend Kallie.

"Are you going to listen to me or are you just going to eye-bang Nolan all morning?" Danny asks suddenly, pulling Jackson out of his own mind.

"Sorry, man, what were you saying?" Jackson responds.

"Just that you need to meet Landon when he comes down from Waterdale next weekend," Danny answers, "to be honest it would be nice if you and Nolan were still together, that way you wouldn't be all third-wheel."

"Yeah, I don't think Nolan'll want to join us."

"Well you made out with a girl who's one of his best friends," Danny recaps, "if I were him I wouldn't want to talk to you either."

"That kiss with Lydia didn't mean anything."

"Doesn't matter. You put the lips that are supposed to be his on someone else; it's a matter of principle. How would you have felt if you'd caught him kissing me?"

Jackson is silent for a minute, "Okay, good point."

"Are you two still hooking up?"

"Yeah," Jackson smirks, "he can't get enough of me."

Danny shuts his eyes and shakes his head, "You're a pig."

The two begin to walk to class as Jackson replies, "Seriously, Danny, we've had sex every night since we officially called it quits. We're friends with benefits for all accounts and it's amazing."

"But you're in love with him…"

"Yeah, and?"

"You aren't friends with benefits if you love him."

"Then what are we?"

"A trainwreck," Danny chuckles, "I gotta go, I'll see you after Comp."

\-------

Ms. Palmer leans against her desk after finishing handing out the syllabus, smiling while she taps her high-heeled foot against the floor.

"So, there's that. Read it if you want, I don't really care. All I want from you this semester is participation and improvisation. The more people involved the more fun drama class is. So if you think drama is an easy A, you can just get out now. I want everyone in here to wow us with how good or how bad they are at performing, and if you're not okay with that, then this isn't the class for you. Any questions?"

The redhead looks around the classroom and waits patiently, when no one says or does anything she smiles again. Moving away from her desk, the petite woman stands front and center, her eyes shining.

"Alright, looks like we've got a good batch this year. I promise, I will never make you guys do anything you don't want to, but in order to thrive in drama, you need to push your boundaries."

Erica looks over and Camilla and laughs, "What are the odds that we all got the same class?"

Camilla shrugs, her eyes scanning over Nolan, Jackson, Lydia, Scott, Stiles, and Isaac. She watches as Nolan glares at both Jackson and Lydia simultaneously, noticing a lot of lust mixed in with the hateful looks the boy gives to his ex.

"Pretty crazy. This will be an interesting semester," she responds.

Soon, the class is split in half to play an introduction game. Lydia taps her pencil against her desk, fidgiting in her black, skin-tight dress, knowing Nolan's eyes are on her.

Before the class can start, a knock comes from the door, and leaning against the doorway is Mr. Moore.

"Hey, Jesse. Whoops, I mean, Mr. Moore. What's up?" Ms. Palmer asks walking over to him.

"It seems I've locked myself out of my office again..." he answers, a bit embarrassed, his hands shuffling into the pockets of his basketball shorts.

"Good thing you gave me your spare key," Ms. Palmer laughs, moving over to her desk with ease.

After grabbing the key, she hands it over to the man, who takes it slowly, staring into the woman's eyes.

"I really appreciate it," Mr. Moore tells her, a small smile on his lips.

"No problem," Ms. Palmer smiles back, her hands smoothing out her already wrinkle-free dress.

"I'll see you around, then, Megan. Er, uh, Ms. Palmer."

The whole class watches as the man leaves, looking back a couple times to look at Ms. Palmer before he disappears around a corner.

"Get it, Ms. Palmer!" Camilla cheers, and the class laughs.

The teacher chuckles and tugs at her teal dress.

"He's obviously into you!" a girl named Tamara says.

"Please," Ms. Palmer laughs again. "I met him at the gym before we even knew we were teachers together, we're just friends. Don't you guys go around starting rumors."

"No promises," Erica teases, her fingers strumming against one of her legs.

Scott laughs, and feels his phone vibrate. He looks down and sees that Allison has texted him again. He opens the message.

_Come outside._

Looking all around, Scott frowns. Where was she?

"Um, Ms. Palmer, can I go to the bathroom?"

"Sure, um, Jackson?" she guesses.

"Scott," he reminds her with a smile.

"Scott, right. Sorry. Go ahead."

The boy leaves and walks down the hallway a short distance before he sees Allison.

"What are you doing here?" he whispers, guiding her towards an empty corridor.

"I don't really know," the girl confesses, tugging a strand of hair behind her ear. "I didn't really realize I was coming until I was already in the parking lot."

Scott sighs, annoyance clear.

Allison looks down at her black converse, "I'm sorry, Scott. I shouldn't have come."

Scott lifts her chin up and looks at her, feeling sympathy.

"It's not that I don't like seeing you, it would just be a lot of drama if people started seeing you again. You promised to lay low for a while, remember?"

Allison nods and begins to back away, "I'll just go... Unless you want to come with me?"

Scott sighs again, "I can't, Allison. It's the first day."

The girl takes his answer and starts to leave, her eyes falling back to catch a glimpse of Scott, who was making sure she was actually leaving.

"Just... Call me at lunch, okay?" she asks.

Scott nods, "Okay."

Allison puts her hands against the door to leave, and turns around once more, looking at Scott.

She sighs a sorrowful sigh and pushes the door open, the fresh breeze blowing her billowy yellow top in the wind as she heads back to her car.

\-------

Stiles sets his tray down beside Erica and instantly joins into the conversation, "If she shows up again we're gonna be in serious trouble."

"Yeah, no shit," Camilla concurs.

"What was she even doing here in the first place?" Isaac asks as he bites down on a French fry.

Nolan sighs, "Seriously? You guys don't remember how Erica was at The Root's beck and call after he resurrected her? The same thing is happening with Allison."

"But she wasn't in a trance like I would be whenever Malum called me," Erica states.

"And I didn't, like, summon her or anything," Scott adds.

"You're not as powerful as The Root was. I mean, you're powerful – True Alpha and all that – but his power was a lot darker and had more oomph," Nolan tells the table of kids, "with you and Allison it's more of a pull, I would guess. You guys have a bond, she loves you and you love her. She doesn't want to be apart… she's just connected to you."

"Can't I just break the bond?"

"You can if you burn her father's body like Camilla and Isaac burned Gerard."

Camilla sets down her hot dog, "There goes my desire to eat ever again."

"Sorry. But that's the only way I can think of."

"Would that help at all," Jackson asks across from Nolan, "I mean, even if they burn Chris… I mean magic is powerful but the reason Allison is back is because of love, when you think about it… wouldn't that overshadow the Resurrection magic?"

Stiles' brow furrows, "When did you become Fabio?"

"Bite me, Stilinski," Jackson snaps.

Lydia interjects, "He might be right though."

"Why? Because love conquers all?" Nolan asks, "The only place love exists is in delusional fantasies."

The whole table falls silent. Erica bites into an apple and Scott nibbles on a carrot stick. Jackson and Nolan lock eyes for a minute before Nolan regretfully looks away, both boys are aware that the statement was largely in reference to them and neither really wants to acknowledge that.

"So we burn my uncle," Camilla says finally, "it can't make things worse. More mental scaring for me, but other than that… and if it helps Allison it's worth it, I say."

Erica chuckles, "God, we're all so fucking twisted."

\-------

"Ugh," Malia groans, checking her watch. "I have to leave soon."

Ben frowns, "Has it already been an hour?"

Malia nods and stands up, streching her arms above her head. Her blue scrubs creep up her abdomen as her body streches, and Ben sees a hint of sunkissed skin peeking out.

His eyes flash back to her own and he stands up as well. The two smile at each other as Ben places a crisp five dollar bill on the table, offering a tip to whoever happened to get it.

"Shall we?" he offers after replacing his wallet in his jeans pocket.

"We shall," Malia answers. Their hands slide together almost automatically as they begin their stroll out of the coffee shop.

Ben walks Malia over to her car, and she leans against the driver's door, Ben just inches from her.

"I hate how much our job conflict with the other," she pouts, sticking out her bottom lip.

Ben's thumb reaches up and brushes the protruding lip, as he says, "I know. But hey, at least we can spend some time together."

Malia looks into his eyes and smiles. Ben's hand slides over to cup her cheek.

"You're beautiful, you know that?" he reminds her, meaning every word of it.

Malia blushes, and she casts her eyes down.

"I mean it," he promises. Her eyes return to his just as he leans in for a sweet kiss.

When they pull apart, Malia is reluctant.

Her breath a little raspy, she tells him, "I'm off at midnight. Any chances you'll be around?"

"It's my day off until tomorrow at 6, I'm all yours."

The woman smiles and bites her lip, a habit Ben had noticed of her.

"I'll see you then," Malia states.

"See you then," Ben repeats.

\-------

Nolan opens the door to the main office and walks inside, the smell of lavender overwhelming him. The boy strolls over to the secretary and shows her his pass for the counselor.

"Have a seat," Helen the Secretary tells him in an overtly nasal voice.

Not saying a word Nolan takes seat and watches as Camilla and Lydia walk into the office as well.

"Hey, Nol," Camilla says as she comes and sits beside him, "what brings you to the counseling office?"

"I've been summoned to see my sister – also known as the newest guidance counselor at Beacon Hills High. Just what I needed, ya know? My estranged sister at my school… day in, day out until I graduate. Should be fun."

"Yeah, I had my 'start of the year' meeting with her last period… gotta say talking to your dead, demon hunting sister is weird."

"You should give her a chance," Lydia insists, "she's your sister."

"And?" Nolan asks, slightly annoyed at Lydia's interest in his personal life.

"And she's your family."

"I'm… I'm not understanding."

"Annalise is your family."

Nolan stares at the red haired girl blankly, clear confusion on his face.

"Forget it," Lydia finally sighs.

"What are you guys doing here anyway?"

Camilla smiles, "We're office runners. A glamorous job, no doubt."

Before Nolan can respond Annalise pops her head out of her office and says smoothly, "Nolan, come on in."

Stonily, Nolan stands up and begins to make his way to his sister's office. He can feel the eyes of Lydia and Camilla glued to him. When he reaches the door his sister smiles boldly at him and ushers him all the way in.

It's only when Nolan hears the door firmly shut that he begins to panic.

"So, senior year," Annalise starts as she moves to sit behind her desk, "that's exciting. Any plans for next year?"

"Dartmouth," Nolan replies without hesitation, shocking himself.

"Looking at your GPA and SAT scores I'd say Dartmouth is well within your grasp. What do you plan to study?"

"I want to study journalism," Nolan replies, "but let's cut the shit here Annalise."

"Nolan, at school I'd like you to call me Miss Hayes."

"Okay, Miss Hayes, let's cut the shit, what are you doing at my school?"

Annalise shrugs and leans back in her chair, "I have to make money somehow, Nolan. I got my Masters in Psychology from Duke, figure I may as well put it to use."

"So you were able to go to college while you were dead? That's nifty."

"Nolan, please don't be so spiteful. If you understood what happened…"

The boy scoffs, "I do understand. The demon hunters offered you life or death and you chose life – you didn't give your family a second thought, but hey… you were always selfish."

"Nolan you don't get it. The demons, they're evil. They take over innocent people's bodies, they ruin lives and when the mix their blood with humans'… it's catastrophic. I chose to go with the demon hunters because when I realized what I was – what we are – I realized that the life I would have to live as a Halfling wouldn't be fruitful."

"Mom cried every day for a month," Nolan tells her, "every day. That's when we had to commit her."

"Her being committed had nothing to do with me. It was the host she was using, the real Kelly Hayes was trying to regain control of her body and when that happens the host goes insane and the demon loses control," Annalise tells her brother, "it had nothing to do with me."

Nolan rubs his temples and slumps down into a chair across from Annalise, "This is so screwed up."

"Look, I'm going to be blunt here: you have to make a choice Nolan. You have to decide if you want to join us or join them. It isn't fair, it's not a choice anyone should have to make, but you do. The demons are in Beacon Hills, they're looking for hosts and I'd venture they'll find them before too long."

Nolan's mind flashes to his mother and her new self, he pushes the though away and then asks, "What happens then? When they find hosts?"

Annalise tucks are dark curl behind her ear, "We don't want to find out."

"So you don't know…"

"Nolan, you've got to decide. I will personally respect whatever decision you make, however the other hunters won't be as respectful and forgiving."

"Meaning?"

"All I'm at liberty to say is that you have to decide who you're going to make allies with."

"What if I don't choose?"

"Then that's a choice in and of itself," Annalise replies flatly, "I'm sorry you're in this position. I'm sorry dad kept you in the dark for as long as he did, I'm sorry you believed I was dead… none of this is fair to you. I want you to have a future here Nolan, I want you to graduate and I want to see you go to Dartmouth, but when the time comes…"

"It's life or death," Nolan whispers, "isn't that wonderful?"

\-------

"Hurry it up fellas!" Coach Finstock screams from the field, his whistle dangling from his mouth.

It was that time again. Lacrosse season.

As the boys make their way onto the field, Scott spots the new PE teacher he had heard about standing next to Coach.

"Hey," Scott says to Stiles, "What's he doing with Coach?"

Stiles looks over at the man in question and then turns back to Scott.

"I guess he's like assistant coach or something. I heard he's actually a decent guy though."

Stiles shrugs as he steps up to circle around the two coaches.

"Alright, sissies. This is Mr. Moore. You might know him as the new heartthrob of Beacon Hills High School, or just as our new PE teacher. But now, you'll know him as the assitant coach. So if you don't listen to him, you'll get a swift kick in the ass and a cut in playing time. That is, if you even make the team. All captain positions are open, so play hard fellas."

With the blow of his whistle, Coach begins to announce drills and the tryouts begin.

From the stands, Camilla sits, partially watching Isaac, partially reading a horror novel.

A familiar redhead walks by and the girl shouts out.

"Ms. Palmer! Hey!"

The teacher spots the source of the voice, and smiles.

"Camilla, what's up?"

The teacher, now Nike clad, steps up onto the bleachers to sit next to the brunette.

"I rode to school with Isaac, so I'm sort of forced to watch the tryouts. Not that I mind though, my man has buns of steel that I just love to stare at."

The woman chuckles, placing a hand over her eyes to block the sun as she looks at Camilla.

"Well, I was headed to the training room unless you want some company for a bit, I wouldn't mind checking out a certain coach..." the teacher laughs.

"Ah, Finstock? Wouldn't have thought he was your type," Camilla teases, nudging the woman.

"Oh yes, one year of being my teacher's assitant and you know everything about me," Ms. Palmer replies. Camilla had had an empty spot in her schedule last year, so the office ladies put her with Ms. Palmer, whose first year it was.

"But really, Mr. Moore seemed to be into you, no lie," Camilla reveals with a knowing smirk.

"Oh c'mon, it's just friendly stuff. Nothing more," the woman tries to brush it off, her eyes finding their way to the man in question.

"I doubt it. No guy gives some girl he just met a key to his office unless he wants her."

Ms. Palmer smiles, but considers the thought.

"Yeah, we'll see," the teacher says, standing up to leave. "I'm going to work on my biceps, I'll see you tomorrow Camilla."

"Have a nice workout!" the girl calls after her.

As the woman walks away, Camilla can't help but notice Mr. Moore's eyes go directly to the drama teacher.

"Oh yeah, they're gonna bang," Camilla says to herself.

\-------

Erica walks into the Hale House and drops her bag to the floor. It hits the hardwood with a thud, but she doesn't care. She's tired and her feet hurt and she wants to cuddle up with Derek on the couch and watch  _Revenge_. The blonde girl pulls her hair out of the bun it had been sloppily pulled into during her Trig class and sighs heavily.

"How was the first day?" Derek asks as he appears at the top of the stairs. Erica gasps but as soon as she speaks it's as though nothing had happened.

"Annoying," Erica replies flatly, "Allison showed up during drama, which caused a lot of drama, and Nolan thinks the only way to make her less hung up on Scott is to burn her father. Needless to say I'm glad I'm graduating midterm."

Derek chuckles and takes large strides down the stairs until he's face to face with his girlfriend, "Me too. This house is boring without you and I'm not domestic enough to take up a hobby. As shocking as it is to say, I'm missing all the life threatening supernatural mayhem."

"Are you saying you need me here?" the girl asks, completely ignoring the rest of Derek's comment.

A smile spreads on both their faces as Derek connects their lips. Before things become too intense he pulls away and says just above a whisper, "Yeah, I need you here."

\-------

"I love cheese ravioli soooo much," Camilla moans, her mouth full.

"Yeah, we can tell, sweetheart," Ron reminds her, chewing his own food politely.

Camilla shrugs and continues to eat, savoring every bite.

Allison pushes her food around, barely taking two bites, when she pushes out her chair and stands.

"Thank you for dinner Susan. I'm going to head over to Scott's to help him study," she excuses herself, leaving before anyone had time to react.

Camilla rolls her eyes and looks over at Isaac, who was there too.

Being careful not to spill on his white shirt, the boy takes another bite.

Susan lowers her voice and says, "I'm worried about her. All she does is spend time with Scott. I know it's because of that resurrection stuff, but still. It's not healthy. She's too attached."

Ron nods, "But what can we do? It's not like she wants to always crave being around him. She can't really help it, right?"

Camilla shrugs right as they all hear the front door open and shut.

"I doubt she'll be home tonight," Camilla states, taking a bite of bread. "Does that mean Isaac can take her place?"

Susan says, "Yes," right as Ron says, "No."

Susan places a freshly manicured hand over Ron's as she coos, "Honey, these kids aren't dumb enough to do it with us just a few doors down. It should be fine. Plus, you know Camilla would probably just sneak out to be with him anyways."

Ron rolls his eyes and wipes his mouth with a napkin.

"You're as bad as Allison," he teases his daughter.

"As if!" Camilla argues, playfully tossing her own napkin at her father.

"I suppose he can stay, but Camilla has to wear her winter pajamas and Isaac has to sleep on the floor."

"Oh, Dad, you're so cute," Camilla laughs, standing as she begins to clear off the table.

Ron chuckles a bit and leans back in his chair, a hand rubbing his full belly.

Camilla's phone beeps and she notices Allison's name appear on the screen.

_Not coming home. Please tell Ron and Susan for me._

Camilla sighs and spreads the news.

"That girl...tsk tsk tsk," Susan chides, helping Camilla clear the table.

\-------


	29. Do I Wanna Know? (4x17)

Scott stares at the girl sitting on his bed, her shoulders sagging and her face worried.

"Allison... You have to stop just showing up here..."

The brunette fingers Scott's bedspread as her face contorts with confusion.

"But I thought you wanted to spend time with me?" she asks, her voice slow and sad.

"I do, you know I do... But, you need to spend some of your time with other people, with yourself. You don't have to be with me every minute."

Hurt, Allison clenches her jaw as she speaks.

"I'm  _not_  with you every minute. You go to school, I stay with Ron and Camilla..."

Scott exhales loudly and runs a hand through his hair.

"Allison, you showed up at my school today. And you were barely with your family before you headed over here."

The girl stares at Scott, her heart longing for him but hurting because of him at the same time.

After a moment, Scott says, "You should go back home. You need to spend time with your family."

Anger brewing Allison stands up quickly and heads for the door.

"If you didn't want to spend time with me, why did you bother even bringing me back?" she screams at him before slamming the door shut.

The words pierce through Scott and his stomach drops.

Licking his lips, he walks over to his bed and takes a seat where Allison had just been sitting.

Putting his head in his hands, he thinks to himself,

_How did it get like this?_

Interrupting his inner monologue, the door creaks open and Allison stands in the doorway, mascara-tinted tears streaming down her cheeks.

Without a word, she walks over to Scott and kneels before him.

"I... I can't leave. I won't. Please don't make me," she manages to say through sobs. Her body shudders as she takes Scott's hands into her own clammy ones.

"Please," she repeats herself, burying her face into Scott's lap, sobs wracking her.

Scott takes his hands from hers to envelop the girl in his embrace.

"Okay," he tells her. "Okay."

Allison continues to sob, wrapping her arms around Scott's lower back, her tears soaking his plaid pajama bottoms.

After Scott consoles her and gets her to snuggle into his bed, Scott excuses himself to go to the bathroom.

He shuts the door quietly and immediately pulls out his phone.

"Hey man, what's up?" Isaac says after he picks up.

Scott sighs, "It's Allison. Isaac, I don't know what to do. You know how Erica was pretty clingy when The Root brought her back? Allison is a hundred times worse. It's like she can't stay away from me, and if she isn't near me, she can't handle it."

Isaac lets the words sink in.

"It must be the bond," he suggests. "You brought her back. You two have a connection because of that, on top of the connection you two had before she died. I don't think she can really help it. You know how Erica would just up and disappear because of The Root. I mean, he was more of a controlling force, but it was the bond that made her go to him, and it's probably your bond that makes it so hard for her to leave you."

Scott rubs his eyes, as he thinks.

"Hey, at least she's back. That's what you wanted, right?" Isaac asks him.

"Of course, but if I knew it would be like this... This isn't Allison. I love her, but she's not the same person I fell in love with."

Isaac nods on the other end, "I don't know what to tell you..."

"I know, I just... I needed to tell someone. I'll see you tomorrow, Isaac."

The two hang up and Isaac leans against a wall, feeling sorry for both of his friends.

Shocking Isaac, Ron clears his throat to announce his arrival.

Isaac smiles sadly at the man, "That was Scott. He's really worried about Allison."

Ron nods, "As am I. She's not the same girl I remember."

"That's what Scott is saying..." Isaac reveals. Both men linger in the silence, their thoughts consuming them.

Breaking that silence, Ron speaks.

"Well, you'd better go off to bed, you need rest, werewolf or not."

Isaac stands up from the wall he was leaning against and starts to make his way to Camilla's room where the girl was already asleep.

"Will do, sir."

Stopping him, Ron adds, "I'm glad you picked up lacrosse again. I know quitting last year was a big deal, but it's good you found your way back. It's nice to have some normalcy in a life like this, right?"

Isaac smiles, "Yeah, I didn't realize how much I missed it."

Ron smiles back, "Goodnight, Isaac."

"Goodnight, Ron."

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Listening to Erica's breakfast hit the pale, white walls of a toilet was not the way Camilla was envisioning her morning.

Trying to block out the sounds of splashing and heaving, Camilla plays the first song that pops up in her music library, which happened to be "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun".

After a minute, the toilet flushes and Erica saunters out, wiping her mouth.

"I didn't know you were anorexic," Camilla jokes, looking at her reflection in the mirror, admiring her cleavage.

"Shut up," Erica growls, turning on a sink to rinse out her mouth. "I ate eggs this morning, they must've been bad."

Luckily, they were the only two in the school bathroom that morning, so no one else had to hear Erica's struggles.

Just then, the door swings open and in walks Lydia, carrying a small bag from a nearby drugstore.

"Nausea medicine, just like you asked for," she offers the bag up, which was resting on her outstretched wrist, swinging back and forth.

Erica grabs the bag and pops two of the pills. She leans against the sink and takes a deep breath.

"You look terrible," Lydia frowns.

Erica glares at her friend, "Thanks, I know. I am never letting Derek cook for me ever again."

"I don't understand why you would in the first place, that man would burn cereal," Camilla shrugs, applying a tinted chapstick to her lips.

"Like Isaac is any better," Lydia scolds, checking out her black dress in the mirror.

"Well, he might not know how to cook, but he is marvelous at many other things," the brunette smirks.

"What like forgetting to wrap it up? Am I the only one who remembers the pregnancy scare?" Lydia says back jokingly.

"Oh it was one time, and everything is fine. This chick is far from pregnant and I intend to keep it that way," Camilla grabs her bag from the floor.

"Amen," Lydia responds. Looking over at Erica she asks, "Are you going to be okay?"

Erica, looking extremely pale and freaked out fakes a smile, "I'll be... fine. Let's just get out of here."

\-------

"You think he'll listen to me?" Jackson asks the woman across from him.

Annalise nods, "I do. I think out of all of his friends you're my best shot, you're the most likely to listen to me too. I would've tried Camilla Argent, but she's stubborn and wouldn't do anything unless it was her own idea."

"Nolan won't listen to me. Not about this especially – you really think I can just sit down with him and convince him to be pro-hunter? Are you nuts?"

"Look, Jackson –"

Jackson puts a large hand up, "No, you look. I am not going to try and get Nolan to agree to be a demon hunter. For two reasons: one, it won't work and two, I don't think he should be."

"You don't understand… if Nolan doesn't agree to be with the hunters he is automatically considered to be in alliance with the demons. I would never hurt him, okay, I wouldn't. Not intentionally. But the people I work with, the other hunters, they don't care. They'll kill him and not give it a second thought. My brother is in danger, Jackson."

The boy shakes his head, "This is ridiculous."

"Well, this is how it is. If you care about my little brother at all you will do everything you can to convince him to join us. He doesn't have to go out slaying demons, he doesn't have to uproot his life in Beacon Hills, he doesn't have to do anything he doesn't want to do – he just needs to make it abundantly clear to us and the demons that he is with us."

Jackson huffs and stands, grabbing his backpack in the process, "I'll see what I can do, alright, I'm not promising anything. I've got drama."

Without a glance back the lacrosse player walks out of the room and into the main office and eventually into the hallway, headed to his class, just as his phone buzzes with a text from Nolan, _"You, me, sex tonight."_

The werewolf beams, what a perfect first period pick me up.

\-------

A bout of laughter fills the room and Isaac and Erica's and the scene ends and suddenly the three kids who were just front and center were replaced by Ms. Palmer, "Good work Group 2, I was really feeling the anguish of the run over mother. Group 3, you're up."

In front of the class now were Camilla, Lydia, and Nolan. The three kids nod at each other and begin the scene rapidly, Camilla taking the reins right off the bat.

"So, what seems to be the problem here?" she asks her friends.

"Well Doctor," Lydia sighs, "my husband and I have been having some issues…"

"Yes, we have, you see, I recently caught my wife in bed with her ex. He was someone I considered very close, and well, now I don't feel like I can look at her – or him at all anymore," Nolan continues, from his peripheral vision he can see Lydia has gone rigid.

Camilla swallows a chuckle as she asks, "Mrs. Hayes, is this true?"

"Well…"

"Oh it's completely true," Nolan beams, "it was not a week ago that it happened."

Lydia frowns, "Nolan, you have to know it didn't mean anything – honestly. I mean…"

"Do you still love him?" Nolan asks finally, abandoning the scene completely, "Really, I want to know. You must on some level or else you wouldn't have been so willing to kiss him. You wouldn't have been so willing to just forget that he was with me. I thought we were friends, Lydia."

"We are, Nolan, but with he and I… there's something there that's always going to be there."

"Guys…" Camilla mutters.

Nolan shakes his head, "That doesn't excuse the fact that you knew what you were doing. Nobody accidentally kisses somebody. That's not something that just happens."

"It wasn't intentional," Lydia insists, "it may not have been accidental, but it wasn't premeditated. Jackson and I didn't know what was happening until you caught us. That's the truth."

"GUYS," Camilla nearly shouts. When Nolan and Lydia turn to look at her the watch as she points with her eyes to the audience where Lydia sees Stiles – his face is twisted in anger and sorrow, distorting his normally handsome face.

Camilla clears her throat and then soothingly, still in time with the scene says, "Well, that's some progress and I think it's for the best if we stop talking about that for now."

Acting as the end of their scene the three teens then return to their seats and watch as Ms. Palmer takes their place with a smile on her face, "That was stellar guys. Honestly. You really have a knack for drama.

"No kidding," Erica chuckles.

The bell rings then and Ms. Palmer dismisses the class, "Groups four and five be ready to perform on Monday. Have a good weekend brothers and sisters!"

In a moment of pure distress, Lydia abandons her backpack in the classroom and rushes after Stiles as he walks out of the room, his head hung low and Scott by his side patting him on the shoulder. Lydia catches up to him more quickly than she had thought and begins to plead.

"Stiles, please, you have to understand..."

The dark haired boy doesn't listen though, he speeds up and leaves the girl in his dust – trying his hardest to ignore the surge of pain that causes a squeezing sensation in his heart.

"Stiles!" Lydia class after him.

Scott shakes his head, "Just give him some time, Lydia. He's upset and you need to just give him a little space."

Lydia looks up at the boy and fights back tears, "Do you think he hates me?"

"I think he hates what happened. I don't think he hates you."

Lydia runs a hand through her hair, "I'm a terrible person."

"No you aren't," Scott insists, "you did a terrible thing, that doesn't make you a terrible person. You're one of the good ones, Lydia. I know it, Stiles knows it, and you know it. Just give him some time and he'll come around."

\-------

The hallways are deserted as Nolan reaches Stiles' locker. The boy doesn't wait long before Stiles appears, his face is blank and it's evident he's upset. When he realizes that Nolan is before him, in front of his locker, he forces a smile.

"Stiles, I am so sorry," the boy says quickly, "I just... when I started talking I couldn't stop and this whole thing is such a mess and you didn't deserve to have this happen to you and I ju–"

Stiles puts up a hand to stop Nolan from continuing, "You don't have to apologize to me. You didn't do anything wrong."

"I know, but..."

"But nothing. You're just as hurt as I am and you reacted. That's that."

Nolan nods, "Look, I have to get to work, but I really want to talk to you about all of this. So will you swing by JavaPit around six when I go on break?"

Solemnly Stiles bobs his head up and down, "I'll see you then."

\-------

Camilla lays her bag on the couch on her way to the kitchen. The brunette jumps when she spots Allison sitting at the table.

"Sorry," Allison says lightly after she notices Camilla's scare.

Her cousin shakes her head and grabs a box of Ritz crackers as she heads over to sit next to Allison.

"What's up?" she asks after a minute, her mouth stuffed with crackers.

Allison shrugs and looks at her watch, "I think I'm going to head over to Scott's soon."

Camilla shoves another cracker into her mouth angrily, chewing with force.

"You know he has practice for like another two hours or so, right?"

Allison looks down at her hands, her nails freshly painted pink.

"Yeah, I'll just wait for him. It'll be fine."

Camilla tries to resist the urge to argue back, but she loses and soon words are spewing out.

"No, Allison, it is not fine. Scott is worried about you. I'm worried about you. We're all worried about you. It's not your fault, but this bond thing has changed you, and we need to try and fix it. Erica didn't get back to normal until we fixed it, and so that's what we need to do with you. And if you keep bothering Scott, it's not going to happen, okay? So you need to start fighting those urges. Not only are they annoying for everyone, but they also are hurting you. You're not the same person we buried, and we all know it. Can't you feel it, Allison? Can't you?"

Allison stares at her cousin, her pain evident in her eyes as she starts to cry.

"Of course I feel it. Do you understand how hard it is for me? To sit around this house all day with nothing to do, and this stupid bond that keeps reminding me of Scott, telling me that I need to be with him. I cannot sit down for a minute before I get the urge to see him, to be with him. And it sucks so bad. I want to be able to be alone, and be with you guys, but he's always there, he's everywhere, and if I'm not physically with him, I start to feel crazy. I hate that he has this power over me and he resents me for it but I can't help it!"

Allison covers her face and turns away.

"I want to be able to sleep in a bed by myself and to be able to dream about things that aren't him. I don't want to be his burden, but if I'm not with him, it hurts me."

Camilla clenches her fist, listening to her cousin tell her her struggles.

Allison stands up before Camilla can respond.

"I'm sorry, but I need to go," Allison says quietly, and with that she slides out of the kitchen, leaving Camilla alone.

\-------

Scott runs over to Derek, Isaac on his heels. The boys had just finished practice and had asked Derek to meet them there so they could discuss the issue with Allison.

"You think I know something?" Derek asks coldly.

Isaac nods, "We were kinda banking on it."

"Have you ever heard of this sort of thing happening before?" Scott asks the older werewolf, "Someone resurrecting someone they love and a bond forming that's... outrageous and annoying and potentially dangerous?"

"No, Scott," Derek answers, "until Malum Radix came to Beacon Hills I didn't know resurrection was something that existed in reality. I have no idea at all how to help you with your little groupie issue."

Just then Derek's phone buzzes with a text from Erica. Ignoring it, Derek focuses back on the teens before him just as his phone vibrates three more times.

"This is great," Isaac says flatly, "Camilla and Ron are super worried about Allison and we don't have any idea how to fix this."

"Did you try burning Chris?" Derek asks, "That scenario is what freed Erica."

"I just..." Scott begins, but falters as his mind replays the night he'd taken Chris Argent's life to resurrect the woman he loves, "I just can't bring myself to dig him up and burn him. It's too much and I don't think I can handle it."

"Top notch Alpha we've got, huh Isaac?"

"Cut him some slack, Derek," Isaac snaps.

"COACH!" calls David Sainsbury, "YOU GOTTA GET IN HERE!"

The three boys exchange a glance and then rush toward the locker room right behind Finstock and Moore. They reach the hot, sweaty room just as Stiles slams Jackson into the lockers.

In an instant Stiles connects his fist with Jackson's jaw and the werewolf lets out an audible yelp, "That's for kissing my girlfriend!" Stiles shouts before he hits Jackson again, "That's for ruining my relationship," another hit, "And that's just for being you!"

Jackson suddenly finds his strength and shoves Stiles as hard as he can, propelling the boy against the opposite wall of lockers.

"Break it up!" Coach Moore hollers, getting in between Jackson and Stiles just as Jackson takes a swing. He narrowly misses Moore and then quickly begins to shout.

"The little prick came after me!" Jackson yells, "It's not my fault Lydia wasn't satisfied with your mediocre ass."

The words fuel Stiles' hate fire and he begins to charge at Jackson again when Scott intercepts him and pulls him back, all the while Stiles is kicking and flailing, "Breathe, Stiles, breathe!" Scott tells his friend.

"Enough!" Finstock screams, "If you two little jackasses are going to act like this you're both sitting the bench for the first game against Devenford Prep next week!"

"Coach, come on," Jackson begins to protest.

"NO! Now hit the goddamn showers, your pansy stench is making me SICK!"

\-------

Melissa clutches a chart in her hand, her hand turning white. Standing beside her is another nurse who stares at the same thing Melissa was staring at.

Leaning in slowly, Melissa says to the woman, "How much longer? We called them ten minutes ago."

The nurse shakes her head, her eyes wide with fright.

Before them stands a man, a gun clutched in his hand and Malia gripped in the other.

The young woman's lips visibly shake from fear as she can feel the metal of the gun pressed into her head.

"Just let me see her!" the man screams once more.

"Sir, please, just let our nurse go and we'll be glad to help you," a hospital security guard assures him, his own gun trained on the man.

"Bullshit! Bullshit! I let her go and you shoot me, I'm no fuckin idiot!" he screams, spitting as he does. "Let me see her."

"Sir, you stabbed your girlfriend. You put her here, why should we let you see her? It is our job to make sure she is safe," the guard tells him.

Obviously distressed, the man grips Malia tighter and responds.

"I'm here to be with her. I love her. It was all a misunderstanding! Haven't you fought with someone and done something you didn't mean to? I LOVE HER!"

A voice from behind everyone speaks out, shocking everyone.

"I'm sure we can arrange something, but first you need to let the nurse go," Donna asserts, her gun being brought into the mix as well as Ben's. The two officers, plus more, had just arrived.

When Ben had walked in, his eyes went straight to Malia and his heart dropped. He knew a nurse was being held hostage, but he never imagined it was her.

"No, no! I can't! You'll kill me!" the man screams, still refusing.

"Sir, I can assure you, none of these officers, nor myself, will shoot you, as long as you let go of the woman and drop your weapon. If you put none of our lives in danger, we have no reason to shoot you. Cop's honor," Donna says slowly, inching closer.

"Back up!" the man wails, moving his gun to point it at the security guard who was closest to him.

Donna doesn't listen and keeps moving closer, "Sir, please."

"Stop moving!" he shouts again. When Donna keeps moving he shoots the security guard in the leg.

The man falls to the floor in agony and a few people scream, Malia included.

In that instant, Ben rushes forward, spotting his moment to act.

Donna realizes the opening as well, and the two rush forward. The man realizes a little too late, and soon, Ben shoots the man in the leg as well, and Donna moves to knock his gun away.

Malia screams as the commotion goes on, unsure of whose gun was shooting who. She closes her eyes and feels strong arms grasp her and begin to carry her away.

She didn't know she was crying until she feels the wet tears against her face and on the shirt of whoever carried her.

Soon, she is outside of the hospital, the cool air hitting the parts of her body that were exposed, and she shudders.

She pulls away from the shoulder of the mystery person to get a better view of who it was, and she immediately fills with happiness and relief.

"You okay, babe?" Ben asks her, smirking a little.

"I'll be better if you can set me down," she says, a little embarrassed.

Ben smiles and soon, she is sitting in the back of an ambulance, an EMT checking her over, even though she knew she was okay.

"I guess it's a good thing this all happened at a hospital. Very convenient," Malia says, trying to lighten the mood.

Ben laughs a little, and moves to sit next to her.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asks her more seriously, his voice and face showing his honest concern.

Malia nods, though her heart was still pounding and she was shaking.

Ben spots a blanket in the ambulance and he reaches for it, covering Malia's shoulders and holding her against him.

The woman rests her head onto him, accepting the embrace. Ben feels her body shivering despite the warmth.

After a few moments he speaks.

"I was there when the call came through, and my first thoughts went to you, but I never thought in a million years that you were the one he... But when I got here and saw you there, God, I don't even know how to express how I felt right then..."

Ben breathes slowly, his thoughts roaming to what could've happened.

"It felt like a dream... I've been in some pretty scary situations, but I was always prepared. I never thought my life would really be in danger as a nurse. It's part of the reason why I took the job," Malia reveals.

Interrupting them, Donna walks over, her hands on her hips.

"I'm glad you're finding the time to make sure our witnesses are... comfortable, but maybe you should, I don't know, start doing your job? We've got a lot to do, Ben, thanks to idiotic security guards and lenient laws in this town," the woman says angrily, walking away after she speaks.

"What a bitch," Malia blurts out.

Ben laughs and Malia apologizes.

"Don't," he tells her. "It's true. Sheriff Stilinski is a thousand times better than she will ever be. But she is a little right, I do need to start questioning people and securing the scene. Will you be okay?"

Malia removes herself from him and tightens the blanket around her, "I'll be fine. Really. My biggest problem is getting blood out of these scrubs, but I'm used to it."

Ben looks her over, making sure she is really okay.

"I'll be around here somewhere, if you need me," he reminds her. He stands up and stands right in front of her.

"I'll be here too, somewhere," she smiles.

Ben looks at her, affection clear in his face.

"I'm fine. Go," she urges. Without warning she grabs a hold of his shirt and pulls him in for a kiss, the wind blowing her hair as she does.

When they pull apart she repeats herself, "Go."

Ben smiles and begins to walk away; his eyes always finding their way back to her.

\-------

JavaPit is slow at this time in the evening, minus the few students who come to JavaPit to study. Nolan stands behind the counter wiping it off when Stiles comes walking in, his face is tight and the anger is practically rolling off of him.

Nolan puts down the towel and raises an eyebrow, "Are you alright?"

"I just punched Jackson in the face," Stiles retorts, "multiple times."

Nolan smiles, shocked, "Ellis I'm going on break."

Ellis barely looks up from her crossword puzzle but mumbles, "Yeah."

Quickly Nolan comes around the counter and nods toward a back door, "You wanna go sit out on the employee patio and talk?"

Stiles nods, still fuming, and follows the boy out of the coffee shop and to the back. Once outside the two boys sit down at a black, iron table and stare at each other. Stiles taps his foot on the concrete and sighs.

"I fucking hate Jackson," Stiles finally says.

Nolan's eyes widen, "I don't think I've ever heard you swear before."

"I don't usually, but in this instance it's necessary. I want to kick his ass, he deserves it. He deserves nothing but unhappiness in his life – you were sure as hell way too good for his sorry ass. So was Lydia. Jackson is a piece of shit."

"God, I have to stop sleeping with him," Nolan groans.

"What? You're still screwing him?"

Nolan shuts his eyes and sighs, "He's just so good in bed. Outstanding even. I just hate his guts so goddamn much for making me feel like this. I shouldn't get heart palpitations and feel like I'm gonna explode every time I pass him in the hallway. Do you mind if I smoke?"

Suddenly Stiles sees that Nolan holds a cigarette and a lighter in his hands, "No.. but, you smoke? Doesn't the whole horrible, awful lung cancer fact kind of put a damper on the smoke front?"

Lighting the cigarette and taking a drag Nolan suddenly replies, "Yeah... well, when you live in a world where Roots of Evil and Alpha Packs can kill you, lung cancer doesn't seem so bad."

"That's... really dark."

"Well ask around.  _I'm_  really dark."

"Why the hell are our lives so screwed up? Why are we like this? I mean werewolf nonsense aside, this whole exes reuniting thing is so typical. I don't... we're better than this, we're better than them."

Nolan chuckles, "Maybe we should just date. Be better than everyone else and be together."

"That would sure piss Lydia and Jackson off," Stiles adds.

"And Roxy," Nolan continues, "let's not forget the torch she'll forever carry for you."

Stiles rolls his eyes, "In that case, I'm in."

The two sit in silence for a minute before Stiles adds, "Seriously though, Nolan, for whatever it's worth, I want you to know I'm sorry they did this to you. I'm sorry you're in this boat."

"I'm sorry you're in this boat with me. Do you think maybe we're overreacting? Do you think that they honestly don't long for each other anymore? That maybe we ought to just forgive and forget? I mean, personally I'm a fan of ignoring a problem until eventually it just goes away."

Stiles cracks a smile, "Me too."

"Although recently that hasn't been working. I tried to ignore my sister and now she's got a job at my school... I think I might need a new system."

Nolan, finishing his cigarette, takes one last drag from it before he tosses the butt to the wayside. Stiles watches intently and then says, "I just want to be happy."

Nolan furrows his brow and frowns, "Me too."

\-------

"Please don't tell me that you can't figure out how to turn on the heat again and that's why you kept texting me," Derek shouts into the house as he walks in.

Erica doesn't respond and Derek frowns.

"Where are you?" he yells out, shrugging off his leather jacket and hanging it on the back of a chair.

"I'm in here," she says softly, but loud enough for his werewolf ears to pick up. He follows her voice and finds her in the bathroom, sitting on the counter.

Derek eyes her and can immediately sense something wrong. Erica is picking at a loose thread in her pajama shorts, unable to meet Derek's eyes.

"We need to talk," she says quietly, still not looking at him.

"Okay," he says, "about what?"

Erica swallows and takes a deep breath.

"Erica..." Derek says when she doesn't speak. "Babe, what's wrong?"

He closes the space between them and stands between her legs, one hand resting on a leg, the other reaching up to tilt her face towards his.

The girl stares at him and takes another deep breath.

"I have something to show you," she reveals, reaching behind her back, her hand shaking.

\-------


	30. A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (4x18)

"Hustle ladies! We've got a lead but don't get cocky!" Coach Finstock screams at the lacrosse boys as the trickle back onto the field. There are only minutes left in the annual scrimmage against Waterdale, and Beacon Hills is up.

Next to the loud coach stands Mr. Moore, clipboard in hand, whistle in mouth.

Behind them, in the bleachers, Camilla sits, surrounded by mounds of students. However, their attentions aren't focused on the game before them, but rather the girl who sits beside Camilla. Allison.

"I bet you've been asked so many times," a girl named Gretchen chirps at Allison, leaning in close enough that her scarf tickles Allison's arm, "but what was it like? When the cult took you? Were you scared?"

Allison clears her throat, ready to spew some more lies about the cult that seemingly took her. That was their cover story. A cult took Allison, faked her death, and then Allison's dad sacrificed himself to get her back. Sadly, part of it was true.

"It was terrifying. They always kept me in darkness, I felt like I wouldn't ever feel the sun on my skin again."

Gretchen nods, sympathy easing her facial expressions.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that. But we're all so glad you're back," the girl tells her, sticking her hand into a box of popcorn.

Allison gives her a fake smile and scoots closer to Camilla. Leaning in close, she whispers to her cousin.

"Maybe I just should've waited. This is overwhelming."

Camilla shrugs, keeping her eyes on the game.

"It had to happen eventually. Now you don't have to worry about someone seeing you."

Allison sighs, knowing she is right. She looks over at the scoreboard and cheers up a little, seeing there is less than two minutes in the game. The sooner the game is over, the sooner she gets to see Scott.

The seconds tick by, and soon enough the game ends, the final blow of the whistle lifting Allison's spirits. She stands with the rest of the students when they begin to cheer out the school song.

Camilla smiles and laughs when the crowd finishes.

"We need to celebrate!" she says excitedly to Allison. "My dad and Susan are gone…"

Camilla wiggles her eyebrows at Allison, waiting for her to make the connection.

"You want to throw a party?" Allison asks.

Gretchen, overhearing the question, joins in, "OMIGOSH! You so should. We should all let loose. And it can be, like, a welcome back thing for Allison!"

Allison shrugs with a little smile, "I guess I'm down."

Camilla smiles deviously before yelling, "Party at my place! If you don't know where it is, figure it out! Be there in an hour!"

Cheers erupt from the students as they overhear and begin to spread the news.

The two brunette cousins take steps to make it down the bleachers, and Camilla jumps off the last step, landing on the ground with perk.

"I'm just going to pretend I didn't just overhear your party details," Ms. Palmer says, walking up to stand next to Camilla. The petite woman was dressed in dark jeans with a green top, making her eye color stand out.

Camilla laughs, "Hey, stop by if you want. I'm sure you'd be a great time. Plus the boys would love to see you."

Putting an arm around the teacher, Mr. Moore joins the group.

"I can personally testify that Megan is more than a good time," he laughs. Speaking to the woman, he says, "Maybe we should stop by, show 'em how old people get down."

The woman laughs a cute laugh and leans into the man.

"I'm sure Camilla throws killer parties, but I don't think us being their teachers is a good thing… Plus, we both know what happens when you mix me and alcohol…"

The man nods knowingly. Leaning in, he gives Ms. Palmer a quick kiss on the lips before heading towards the locker rooms.

"I've got to meet with the team for a few, but I'll meet you at the car. Be safe, Camilla!" he calls after them.

Ms. Palmer smiles as she watches the man walk away.

Camilla elbows the woman jokingly, "I thought you two were just friends?"

The woman turns her attention to her student and shrugs, "I guess he couldn't resist my charms."

Camilla giggles and begins to walk towards the parking lot, noticing how Allison kept looking over at the locker rooms.

"Well, we gotta go. You know, party to set up for and all that," Camilla tells the woman who nods.

"Be safe, ladies," she says to the girls.

"We always are," Camilla calls over her shoulder as she walks away, Allison at her side.

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Lydia takes a small sip of her drink and scowls.

"Teenagers do not know how to mix drinks," she groans, abandoning the cup on a table.

Camilla shrugs, "Not everyone has to make margaritas for their mom all the time."

Lydia purses her lips in thought and nods when she accepts the fact.

The strawberry blonde eyes a mirror from across the room and looks at her own appearance. A cream dress rests tightly against her body, stopping in the middle of her thighs. Her hair shines in the living room lights and her lips look as a glossy as ever.

The girl notices Camilla frowning at her phone.

"Why do you keep checking that? It's not Isaac, is it?" she inquires.

"Nah, he's on his way with the other guys. It's Erica. First she doesn't show up at school or the game, but now she's not even texting me back. At least be polite and tell me that you'd rather be boning Derek than come to my party," the girl responds, whining a bit.

"Well you know she was sick, maybe it's still affecting her…" Lydia suggests, picking an invisible piece of lint off of her.

Interrupting their conversation, the lacrosse team walks in, and cheers fly from people's mouths. The boys light up, victory shining in their eyes.

Stiles walks in, nodding at a few people and high-fiving a few more. His eyes meet Lydia's and he grimaces, quickly turning away. The look he gives her puts daggers through the girl's heart. She goes to turn to Camilla, but her friend is already making her way over to Isaac.

Sighing loudly she grabs her once-abandoned drink.

"Maybe I do need this," she says to no one, gulping it down.

When she finishes she looks over at Stiles again, just in time to see him shaking his head at her, obviously disappointed. Angry, she turns around quickly to get away from his disapproving gaze, when she literally runs into someone, spilling part of her drink.

The girl Lydia bumps squeals a small squeal.

"I am so sorry!" Lydia blurts, reaching for a pile of napkins she had seen resting on the table.

When the girl looks up at Lydia, she smiles sincerely, "It's okay. Really. I've got it. I've been on your end before, and it's not fun when the other person makes a scene."

"Thank you," Lydia stutters. "I really am sorry, I should've been watching. I'm not even drunk I just—"

"Don't worry about it," the girl winks. She makes a move as if to leave, probably heading to the bathroom.

"What's your name?" Lydia stops her. "I don't think I've seen you before."

"It's Reina. I'm a junior, so we've probably never had a class together," the girl reveals.

Eventually, she gets to the bathroom where she begins to blot at her black t-shirt. Thankfully, you can barely tell it's wet.

She glances at her reflection and decides everything looks good. She reaches for the handle and turns it but it won't budge.

Frowning, she tugs and tugs, but it doesn't move.

"C'mon, Reina, you're not even drunk. You can't be defeated by a bathroom door," she says to herself, grunting as she pulls.

A crash comes from behind her, making her jump and turn around.

She doesn't see anything before a thick cloud of smoke races towards her. The last thing she remembers is it entering her mouth and sliding down her throat.

Once the smoke is gone, so is Reina.

Her body, however, moves towards the mirror and smiles.

With one quick motion, the door is open, and standing outside is another girl, a smile on her lips too.

"These vessels are so much nicer," the girl on the outside says.

"Yeah, I don't think I ever want to go back to that forty year-old banker," the other responds, rolling her eyes and sauntering out of the bathroom.

"Let's get this party started, shall we?"

\-------

"The cult," a skinny blonde girl named Tanya sighs, "that's literally so insane."

"I… I know," Allison agrees, "it was really a whirlwind. I can't believe I made it out alive, I just keep telling myself how lucky I am to have survived that nightmare."

A muscular dark haired boy chimes in, "You don't remember anything? Really?"

Allison shakes her head no.

"God, it's all so scary," another girl adds, "I mean it could've been any of us."

"You're so brave," someone chimes in.

"Sorry about your dad," Allison hears.

"He'd be so glad to have you back, I bet," a deep voice sounds.

"Honestly, Allison, you're a hero," Gretchen tells her.

As quickly as she can the dark haired girl pulls away from the crowd of people and goes in search of Scott. She should've really considered this more – coming back to people, to the words and the stares, she wishes she would have taken the time to realize what returning to the living world really mean… but Scott has said tonight was the night, so that was what had to happen.

"Me and Stiles versus you and Danny," Scott calls from far away, Allison twirls, her floral skirt - which Lydia had been kind enough to give her - poofing out around her as she does so. A smile spreads across her face as she begins to march toward her main, a soft glow surrounding him.

The girl's heart is beating a mile a minute and it feels like there's a cage of bats in her stomach as she approaches him. To Allison, seeing Scott was like falling in love over and over again.

The girl wraps her arm around his waist and leans into him and whispers, "Will you come upstairs with me? I need a break from the constant Q and A."

Scott shrugs her off, more harshly than he intends, "Yeah, give me a minute. I wanna finish this game and then I'll go upstairs with you."

Allison watches as Scott tosses a ping pong ball into a red solo cup with perfect precision.

"Scott, please, I just need a second to recoup with you and then I'll be good to come back to everyone. Will you just come with me, please?" the girl begs, tugging on her boyfriend's large hand.

"Allison, come on, just let him play some Beer Pong, would you? Stop being such a fun sucker," Isaac barks as he tosses a ball himself, just narrowly missing a cup right in front of Stiles.

"Dude, you suck," Stiles laughs.

Loudly Allison groans, "Scott, come on!"

"Ten minutes," Scott insists, turning to face his girlfriend briefly, "ten minutes and I'll be upstairs and all yours. I promise. I swear on everything holy and decent."

"Stop being a ball-buster, Argent," Isaac laughs, pulling laughs from all the boys around the ping-pong table.

Allison stares daggers at the beta before storming off; heading for the room she knew was Ron's office. The girl wastes no time, once inside, in shutting the door behind her and flicking the light on. Her eyes scan the room, and thoughts of her father fill her mind.

"Where would dad hide the wolfsbane?" Allison wonders out loud, hoping her uncle would have the same hiding tactics he had had.

Instantly Allison's eyes connect with the small potted plant on Ron's desk. She smiles to herself, "Hiding it in plain sight, just like dad."

Allison grabs a few sprigs of wolfsbane and tucks it into her pocket. Her mind races, she know she shouldn't do what she's about to do – but she needs Scott. She  _needs_  him. In this moment she can't think of any alternatives. She then shuts off the light and exits the office and reenters the party.

The music is still thumping loudly as she heads back over to the boys playing beer pong. She sees the decorative table behind the couch contains several solo cups as she approaches them, she watches as the boys focus on their game – Danny getting a ball in one of the cups and Stiles chugging it. As Isaac prepares to toss one of the ping pong balls himself Allison makes her move.

In a swift, fluid motion the girl drops several pieces of wolfsbane into one of the solo cups, the one she believes to be Scott's.

 _This'll get him_ , she thinks to herself as a twinge of remorse washes over her before it disappears as she remembers how badly she needs a moment alone with her boyfriend.

"Ha," Scott shouts, causing Allison to jump fearing she'd been caught, "Stilinski and McCall: The Ultimate Beer Pong Champs!"

"Suck it lil bitches," Stiles laughs as he and Scott high five.

Isaac and Danny roll their eyes and head toward the table with their drinks on it.

"Hey, ready to go for that break?" Scott asks.

As the words leave his mouth Allison's mind goes blank and she forgets the deed she had just done, connecting her hand with Scott's the two head upstairs to her bedroom.

"Loser has to chug," Stiles laughs as Isaac and Danny pick up their cups.

The two lacrosse players exchange a look of defeat, "Bottoms up," Danny laughs before the two of them slam their drinks.

\-------

Nolan sits at the kitchen island, a half empty bottle of tequila in his lap. He watches as people enter and exit as if in slow motion. Faces pass him time and time again but none of them fully register in his head.

"You okay?" a girl asks, her long espresso brown hair hangs just past her breasts and the concern on her face looks sincere and although Nolan isn't sure who she is he feels in his gut that she's trustworthy.

"I'm not okay, but this," Nolan begins, holding up the bottle of tequila, "this helps."

"Is this about you and Jackson?" she asks, pulling out a stool to sit in front of the boy, "Honestly, he isn't worth it. No boy is worth this kind of upset."

"You know what I hate? I hate not knowing. I hate having a lack of knowledge. So I read, I read a lot so that I can know things and I study and I work hard and I pay attention in school, trying my damndest to attain knowledge. But it's like no matter what I do I still don't really know anything. At least not anything that counts… I never know what's coming next for me and ultimately I think that's where my distaste for not knowing things comes from, but there isn't anything I can do, ya know? And the not knowing, the fear of the unknown, it just sucks."

"Everyone feels like that," the girl retorts.

Nolan's eyes widen, "Wow, I have no idea who you are and I'm unloading all of my crap on you. That doesn't seem unstable at all. I'm Nolan, you are?"

The girl rolls her eyes, "You don't remember Calc I last year? I sat in the front row beside Calvin Everett, the kid with the comb over?"

"I'm sorry; it's not ringing any bells."

"Reina Alcarez," the girls laughs, "nice to re-meet you, Nolan. Well, I gotta get back to Claire and Shay they sent me in here for solo cups not to have heart-to-hearts with seniors, so…" coolly, the girl grabs two red plastic cups and makes her way to exit, "Word of warning: if you drink too much of that you're gonna regret it in the morning."

Nolan cracks a smile, "I always regret the morning."

Reina laughs again and struts out of the kitchen, leaving Nolan to once again sit in silence with his bottle. His heart thuds and his face feels painfully warm. As he stares at the boy and girl out on Camilla's back porch making out he feels a pang – wishing he was out there with Jackson.

"You're clutching that tequila like it's a life persevere – which, as your mother, I have to tell you is slightly worrisome," Kelly Hayes sighs, tossing her dark hair over her shoulder, "Why so blue, darling?"

"Mom what the hell are you doing here?" the boy asks, startled by his mother's presence.

Kelly chuckles, "I'm chaperoning. No, I kid. I was here to make sure everything was going smoothly for everybody."

"Excuse me?"

Kelly walks to the fridge and opens it, pulling out a bottle of water, "I was making sure everyone found a proper host. Making sure they didn't wind up with someone who would lose their minds too soon, like I did the first time around. I was a sloppy little demon back then, but what was I supposed to do?"

"Mom, what are you talking about?"

"Nolan, the demons are in Beacon Hills and they came to this party to find hosts," Kelly replies as she opens her water and takes a swig of it, "You were just talking to one of them a second ago."

"Wha… Reina? Reina is possessed."

"That's such an ugly word, possessed. I never liked it. What we do is art in its finest form, it really is. I mean for the love of god, we consume a person completely – we take away their pain and sorrows and we get them the lives they want and we give them what they desire and people have the audacity to say that what we do is a possession. This isn't  _The Exorcist_."

Nolan scowls, "Why? Why the ever-loving hell would you think it is a good idea to do this at a high school party? Are you insane… still?"

"Don't talk to your mother like that," Kelly snaps, "Nolan the demon hunters are here and they're going to try and take you like they took Annalise. I refuse, absolutely refuse, to allow something like that to happen again."

"Mom, you are taking over the lives of innocent people. How is what you're doing not evil? How is it not demonic? How is it not deserving of some punishment?"

"Darling, we don't take over their lives. Everything we do is in the best interest of our host. This body I'm in now? She was addicted to heroin. She wanted desperately to quit but couldn't find the strength, her husband had taken her kids and moved to Chicago and she wanted to die. If I hadn't found her and used her as my vessel she would have overdosed. I saved her life, Nolan."

"You… you did?"

"Yes. There is a system; there are things we look for before we consume a host. We don't make the decision lightly – that's what the demon hunters don't understand."

Nolan shakes his head and stands up, "This is just… this is just too much. I can't handle this right now."

As the teenager heads toward the exit his mother calls, "Be safe, darling."

Stumbling through the Argent house, Nolan goes in search of somewhere to find solitude. As he moves, kids bumping into him, his eyes lock with Stiles'. The lacrosse player furrows his brow at Nolan's expression and mouths "what's wrong?" all Nolan can manage to do is shake his head. He reaches the staircase suddenly and clutches the railing as he tries to trek up the steps. People move past him, coming down. They're laughing and saying hi to him, but he ignores them. He's starting to feel claustrophobic.

Nolan's heart begins to pound as he reaches the landing. Two girls lean against the wall, they're kissing intensely, when they hear Nolan they stop and exchange a panicked glance with each other before entering a bedroom. The auburn haired Nolan clutches at his chest  and stares down the hallway as his heart races and he breaks out in a sweat.

His head throbbing with each step his eyes lock on the large doors at the very end of the hall. He races towards it as he faintly hears someone call his name. He steps through the doorway and looks around at Susan and Ron's bedroom, the room is lit only by the light coming in through the French doors against the East wall that lead out to a small balcony. The boy tumbles forward, gasping for breath. His hands grasp the silver handles and yank the doors open, allowing the cool fall air in.

"Nolan," the voice calls again, "dude are you okay?"

The boy's heart begins to slow and he finds his breath out on the patio, "I… I'm fine. I'm fine."

Nolan turns around to see Stiles, the moonlight shining on his face in the perfect way – his brown eyes sparkle as he takes a step forward, "Were you having a panic attack?"

"It's been awhile," Nolan chuckles as he sits down on the floor of the stone patio, "I forgot how terrible they are."

"What caused it?"

"My mother. She's here and she's sharing stories of possession."

Stiles moves to sit down beside his friend, "God, I'm sorry your life is so screwed up."

"You and me both," Nolan chuckles.

Silence falls over the boys as they sit outside under the bright moonlight. Music pounds loudly beneath them, gently rattling the patio. Nolan looks up at the star filled sky and exhales heavily his mind clearing the longer he looks above him.

"Lydia tried talking to me," Stiles mentions suddenly, "I didn't listen though. Just looking at her makes my soul sad."

"I stopped sleeping with Jackson."

"Good call."

"Back at ya."

Stiles chuckles, "We're never going to have happy, healthy relationships are we?"

"Not so long as we live in a place that's a beacon for awful."

"It's not called Beacon Hills for nothing."

Silence circles them again and Nolan can clearly make out the words to  _Diet Mountain Dew_  by Lana Del Rey playing below them. He smiles, he loves the song and hearing it makes him feel slightly better.

"Stiles?"

"Yeah," the dark haired boy asks, turning to face him.

Nolan leans forward and connects their lips. Electricity races through his body and his heart throbs as he feels Stiles' hand come up to hold his face. Nolan puts his hand on Stiles' leg and begins to rub it upon and down eliciting a groan from the boy as the kiss intensifies, but suddenly they both stop.

The boys pull apart, eyes still closed. Nolan laughs first and Stiles joins him and soon the boys are laughing so hard they're on the verge of tears. As the laughter begins to subside they look at each other. Stiles speaks first.

"That was a good kiss," he states, "you're a good kisser."

"And you're straight," Nolan retorts, "you're so straight and it's not fair because you and I would be perfect together."

Stiles groans, "Let's just… let's try it again."

Nolan nods and leans forward and the two begin to kiss again when Stiles begins to laugh. Nolan pulls away and rolls his eyes, "You aren't committing to this at all."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but I just can't," Stiles says, "you're great Nolan. You're smart, and you have my sense of humor, and you're good looking as hell, but I just can't. I wish that I could, I really do."

"Maybe in another life."

" _Definitely_ in another life," the boy stresses, "just not this one."

Nolan stands up and puts a hand out for Stiles to grab, "Well, we're friends. That's what's important. If you ever wanna try sex stuff with me, just hit me up – you've got my number."

"Oh hell yeah," Stiles says as he stands up and the two begin to walk out of the bedroom. "You'd totally be my first call for gay stuff."

"Thank you."

"No problem. And hey, if you ever get lonely on some dark and stormy night I'd gladly spoon you."

Nolan laughs, "You are  _such_  a gentleman."

\-------

Camilla walks into her dining room and clears her throat loudly, frightening the guy who was fingering the lock on her father's liquor cabinet.

"Trust me, kid, you'll never get in there. I suggest you quit now and get out of my sight, okay?" she smirks, her eyes warning him.

The guy shakes his head and hurries past her, keeping his head down.

Camilla sighs with pleasure and moves to lean against the dining room table. She sets her hands on either side of her, a chill going up her spine when she feels the coolness of the glass against her palms.

Interrupting her serenity, Isaac staggers into the room and collapses in front of Camilla.

"Please don't tell me you're super drunk, Isaac? I know how much it takes a werewolf to get drunk, and there's no possible way you've had that much already."

"N-no," he barely gets out, holding onto his girlfriend as he tries to stand. "Not drunk. Wolfsbane…"

Anger surges through the brunette and her grip tightens against her boyfriend.

"Wolfsbane? How? Who knows there are werewolves here? Isaac, who did this?" she demands, worry replacing anger.

"A-Allison," he chokes out after a minute. "She got mad. It was… for S… For Scott."

The girl begins to shake as she sits Isaac in one of the chairs surrounding the table.

"Stay here, babe. I'm going to take care of this, then I'll be back for you, okay?" she tells him, her voice tight and high. Even though he is drugged, Isaac can tell the girl is seething with anger. She is probably the most angry he'd ever seen her.

"Camilla, please. Don't…" he tries to stop her, but she is already stomping out of the room.

When she spots her cousin, hanging around Scott like usual, she charges up to her and grabs her arm forcefully.

In her ear, she growls, "My room. Now."

Allison rips her arm from her cousin's grip, "Can't it wait?"

"No, bitch, it can't," Camilla says, trying to keep her composure.

"Yes, bitch, it can," she responds.

Without warning, Camilla's hand flies toward Allison's face, and she hits her mark. Hard.

Allison's head gets knocked to one side, the slap burning her immediately.

"I know what you did. My room, now," Camilla threatens before she walks away, not even checking to see if Allison was behind her because she knew she would be.

The girl reluctantly follows her cousin to the bedroom, her head hung low.

All around them people stare, so Allison quickens her pace.

When she enters, Camilla stands waiting, her arms crossed tightly across her chest, accentuating her cleavage. Not that the girl noticed or even intended.

"Shut the door," she commands, her voice a quick monotone. Allison knew there was hell to come.

She obliges and turns around slowly, waiting for the storm to hit.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING DRUGGING MY FUCKING BOYFRIEND?" her voice rips out of her right as Allison's eyes meet hers.

"Camilla, wait I—"

"NO! I want to know what possible fucking reason you have for this? What the hell, Allison?"

"You're drunk, you just need to calm—"

"Actually, I'm not fucking drunk at all I'm just pissed as hell and I want you to try and fucking explain to me what was possibly going through your mind when you drugged Isaac," the girl roars, her face red from anger.

"H-he… It was for Scott since he wasn't… I…"

Camilla shakes her head, "No. Stop. I don't want to hear it. Fuck you, Allison. I have been there for you every second of this, but this is too far. I don't care if it was for Scott. That's fucked up too. You're fucked up Allison. I'm done. I'm taking Isaac and we're leaving. The party is your problem now. Have fun."

The girl grabs a jacket from the back of her desk chair and storms past Allison, bumping her shoulder hard and making the girl stumble.

Allison was alone and she felt terrible.

\-------

"I'm gonna go get another drink, want anything?" Stiles asks Nolan with a smile.

"Yeah, see if there's any tequila left please," Nolan laughs.

Stiles nods at his friend and chuckles before heading off to the kitchen, leaving Nolan alone.

The auburn haired boy stands and sways to the music when a dark haired girl passes him. The face registers in his head, for the first time that night. He reaches his hand out and grabs the girl's arm and tugs her to him, his eyebrows draw together in a scowl as he says her name.

"Annalise, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Chaperoning," the girl smirks.

"God, you are  _so_  our mother. She made the same stupid joke."

"Mom was here?" Annalise asks urgently, "When? Why?"

Knowing what his sister's motives are Nolan debates what to say next and stutters, "Just checking in on things, making sure I'm okay."

"The demons are here?" Annalise asks, seeing through her brother's lie.

Nolan sighs, "Crap."

"I need to… go be somewhere else. I'll see you around, Nolan, please be safe."

"Copy that," the boy says.

Annalise walks away from her brother and straight out the front door, she slides her phone out of her pocket and dials a number she knows by heart. The man she is calling answers on the second ring and his flat voice sounds through the phone, "Hayes, what is it?"

"Trevor, the demons… they're here."

"Sooner than we'd hoped," the man replies, "what all do you know?"

"Not much. I just found out myself… Sir, I think they might possess these kids," Annalise tells her superior, "does this change anything? Are we going to have a new game plan?"

Trevor sighs over the phone, "Get here. We'll discuss a new strategy… and Annalise?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Good work."

\-------

"Isaac, we're almost there, baby. Just make it up these steps," she aids her boyfriend, her arms holding him tightly. They are at Derek's house. Camilla couldn't think of anywhere else to take him and she didn't think she could get him up to his loft on her own.

"Derek!" she calls out, knowing the werewolf would be able to hear her. "Derek, help, it's Camilla!"

The door opens within a moment, and Derek hurries out once he spots Isaac, grabbing him and swinging him over his shoulders.

"What happened to him?" he asks calmly as they walk into the house. Derek is quick to set Isaac on the couch.

"Allison put wolfsbane in his drink. I'm not sure how much. But I-I don't know anything about it except it messes you guys up. I didn't know what else to do… I—"

"You did the right thing," Derek stops her. "I'll take care of this. Are you okay with staying here tonight?"

Camilla shrugs, sliding her hands in her pockets, "If that's what I need to do, yeah."

Padding into the room, Erica speaks next.

"What's going on?" she asks.

"Wolfsbane," Derek answers, short and sweet.

Camilla snorts, "Glad to know you're not dead or something."

Erica looks over at Camilla apologetically.

"I can explain. I—"

"Save it, Allison said she could explain why she poisoned my boyfriend, and frankly, I'm not in the mood to be even more pissed off."

"Camilla…"

"Really, Erica, don't," the girl raises her voice, her eyes hardening.

"Camilla, I'm pregnant!" Erica says loudly, raising her hands in the air to emphasize her words. She smiles and repeats herself, "I… I'm pregnant. Wow that feels weird to say again."

Camilla's eyes widen and she slowly walks toward her friend.

"Pregnant?" her voice comes out as a whisper.

"Pregnant," Erica and Derek say at the same time.

\-------

Lydia sips on her strawberry milkshake before saying, "He wouldn't even talk to me. I tried talking to him and he just said 'Beer, bye.' I royally screwed up and I don't know what I'm going to do. I didn't just lose a boyfriend, I also lost my friend."

Jackson sighs, "Stilinski is going to come around, you're the best thing that ever happened to that waste of space."

"You're such an ass," Lydia snaps.

"If I'm such an ass why are you here? Why did you call me and ask me to rescue you from Camilla's house party trainwreck?"

"What about you and Nolan?" Lydia asks, ignoring Jackson's question.

The werewolf shrugs, "He stopped screwing me. We were supposed to meet up Wednesday night and he came to my house and gave me this long speech about how he couldn't do it anymore, he couldn't deal with being with me, but not being with me and not being able to trust me."

"So you guys are  _done_ -done then?"

"It looks that way."

"It's weird to be talking boys with you."

Jackson shrugs slightly, "Yeah, well…"

"God we're so stupid. We shouldn't have ever kissed."

"We made a mistake, Lydia. We made one stupid mistake; they should be able to accept it and move on."

"Would you be able to?" she counters, "If the roles were reversed and you caught Nolan making out with Danny, would you be able to forgive either of them?"

Jackson rolls his eyes, "I hate you for that."

"I can handle it. I mean Nolan hates me and Stiles hates me… why not tack you on too? Maybe I can sleep with Isaac so that Camilla will hate me too. Oh and maybe I can turn Allison against me by fooling around with Scott as well!"

"Stiles is going to get over this," Jackson tells her, "he is, that loser has been in love with you probably forever. He needs like another week to be pissy and then he'll be all Lydia all the time again. All will be right in your world."

"Nolan will come around too," the girl insists.

"Yeah, well, I doubt that. I hurt him twice… he isn't going to want me back. He thinks I'm a bad guy, but I'm not. I make stupid mistakes… but I'm not a bad guy, not really."

Lydia reaches across the diner's square table and grabs Jackson's hand, "It'll be okay."

The lacrosse player smiles softly at her and takes a deep breath, "I really hope you're right."

\-------

"So are you staying here tonight?" Allison asks shyly, moving to sit on one of the couches in the living room, setting a garbage bag full of solo cups next to it.

She and Scott had just finished cleaning up the house, and she wanted nothing more than to fall asleep in his arms.

Scott sits on one of the armrests, and looks over at Allison. Pity crosses his face.

"I don't think it'd be a good idea. Ron and Susan—"

Allison shakes her head and interrupts him, "Please don't give me that bullshit."

Scott waits and throws his hands up in the air, "Okay then, Allison. It's because you drugged Isaac! But mostly because it was your original intention to drug me!"

Standing up, Allison rushes over to Scott and tries to put her hand on one of his arms, but he pulls away quickly.

"Scott, please! Just let me explain!" she begs as tears begin to flow from her eyes.

"Honestly, Allison, there is no plausible explanation for what you did or what you wanted to do! None of it makes sense!" With that, he grabs his jacket and shrugs it on.

"Please don't leave. Scott, please."

"Goodnight, Allison. I'll talk to you… I don't know. Soon. Just… stay here tonight. We need space."

In a flash, he is gone, and the only thing left is the cold gust of wind he had just let into the house.

Allison cries freely as she heads to the bathroom. She sits on the closed toilet as sobs shudder through her body. Her sobs choke in her throat as she weeps.

She stands up to look at herself in the mirror. That just makes her cry harder.

Soon, the sadness is replaced with anger, and before she knows what she is doing, the mirror before her is shattered and pieces of glass stick out of her right knuckles.

She watches the blood flow from her hand and trickle onto the floor and can't help thinking it's just like her life, slowly trickling out of her.

\-------

 

 


	31. Coming Back For You (4x19)

Annalise sits down beside Malia and studies the girl's tense face, "Are you alright?" she asks her friend worriedly.

Malia nods, "I have a shift at the hospital in fifteen minutes and I don't want to be late. This has all gotten so real so quick."

Annalise smiles softly in understanding. She herself certainly hadn't expected everything to come crashing down as soon as it had, she'd thought that she would've had time to bond with her brother and convince him that the demon hunters were the best allies he could have – but she hadn't had that chance. She had to leave the decision completely up to him. He was uninformed and that worried her. She didn't want him to make the wrong choice.

"Listen up," Trevor Shane begins in his authoritative tone, "this is the moment we've all been waiting for people. The demons are here. They're in Beacon Hills. And thanks to Hayes we now know that they've targeted teens as their vessels."

"What are we going to do," a man named Cole asks, "we can't just go around taking out teens. What's the plan here, Trevor?"

"That's the thing," Trevor replies, "the only real in we have to the demons is Hayes' little brother Nolan. He's the access that we need. Chances are with that demon mother living under the same roof of his he's heard things. He'll probably see things at some point – kids he knows from school showing up to confer with her. We need to be keeping track of him."

"What?" Annalise asks alarmed, "No, Trevor, I don't want Nolan involved with any of this."

"Are you telling your superior 'no'?"

"Sir, I just don't think that…"

"Well I didn't ask you what you thought, now did I?" Trevor snaps, "This is not a question. We have to use Nolan to our full advantage. We need to become a part of his life. We need to find out who he's friends with. We need to know his schedule. We need to know every last detail of his current existence."

A red headed woman leans over to Malia and whispers, "Doesn't that kid run with the wolves?"

"Yes," Trevor interjects, before Malia can respond to the woman, "from the looks of things, Nolan Hayes is a friend of the McCall Pack, which if anything, makes us trying to get him on our side even more difficult – the kid has a soft spot for creatures of the night."

"He was dating one," Lisa Miller tells the room full of hunters, "things fell through with them, but we believe his ex to still be a threat."

"So," Malia begins, "basically you want all of us to be keeping tabs on everyone and everything Nolan has to do with? Our jobs are to stalk and report on a seventeen year old?"

"Precisely," Trevor answers, "we need to see if he'll have contact with any of the possessed. We certainly can't just barge into the school and try and take out teens, we need hard proof that the people we're going after are demons."

"What about Kelly," Annalise asks, "what are we supposed to do about her?"

"If the opportunity arises, and this goes for every single one of you in this room, you are to kill Kelly Hayes."

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

With a large sigh, Camilla shoves open the door to her house, bracing herself for the mess she was expecting to be waiting for her.

When the heavy door finishes its swing, her brow wrinkles. The house was spotless. Almost as if the party had never happened.

Slowly, she shuts the door and makes a few steps into the house. No sign of hung over teenagers anywhere. No sign of Allison.

Treading lightly, the brunette makes her way into her bedroom, where she plans to grab a few essential items. There's no way in hell she's staying under the same roof as Allison anymore.

The coast seems clear, and soon enough, Camilla has a tote bag packed with clothes and anything else she needs. She turns to exit her bedroom, happy that her trek to the house was unscathed by the basket case that was Allison. The thought barely leaves her mind before she sees the girl in question leaning against the doorjamb. Camilla's anger is quick to head to the surface.

"Camilla, wait before you—" Allison begins, only to be cut off.

"Shut the fuck up, I don't want to hear a goddam word you say," the girl spits at her, fire in her eyes.

"Camilla…"

"Save it. It's bad enough you drugged my boyfriend but now I can't even sleep in my own fucking bed. Go to hell, Allison."

With that, Camilla shoves past Allison, not making any effort to be polite. Allison stands in shock and sorrow as she hears her cousin's footsteps pound down the stairs. The door slams and Allison is once again alone. In the house and in the world.

\-------

"Dude, I swear to god this controller is messed up!" Stiles exclaims at Scott, shaking the item in his hands and swearing under his breath.

"It's totally fine, man. You just suck," Scott replies, leaning back and feeling victorious after beating Stiles again.

Stiles frowns and tosses the controller onto the floor.

"Have you talked to Allison yet?" he asks cautiously, knowing she was a sore subject right now.

Scott's face tenses up, but he responds, "No. She's been texting and calling but I've ignored it all. I'm not ready."

"God, who would've thought that bringing her back would be worse than not having her here…" Stiles says truthfully. "Do you think it's like… the bond thing that Erica had with The Root that's making her like this?"

Scott shakes his head, "I honestly don't know. Erica wasn't freaking obsessed with always being with The Root. It was totally different. The bond might be part of it, but part of it just might be Allison being… Allison."

"Maybe it's a different kind of bond…" Stiles suggests. "Like, with The Root, he brought Erica back for her to be his slave. And you brought Allison back because you loved her. Maybe the bond works around why a person brought someone back."

Scott ponders the thought, but shakes it out of his mind. Stiles notices the boy's discomfort and changes the subject.

"I've been thinking about getting back with Lydia," he states, looking down at his hands.

"That's huge, man. Are you ready to forgive her?"

Stiles scratches his head as he responds, "You know, I think I already have, I'm just… scared I guess. I don't know what she'll say if I just show up at her door and say I want her back."

"Well, you won't know unless you do it," Scott shrugs, taking a sip of a can of Squirt.

Stiles squints his eyes and thinks. Without warning he grabs his jacket and stands up in a flash.

"What are you doing?" Scott asks, looking at his friend curiously.

"I won't know until I do it, right?" is all Stiles says before he heads out the door, leaving Scott alone with his can of Squirt.

\-------

"This is so weird," Erica states, her eyes scanning over all the mommy-to-be posters covering the walls of the room she was in.

Derek, holding her hand, nods, obviously overwhelmed.

Erica was laying back in her chair, odd machines she didn't recognize surrounded her.

A light knock sounds at the door and in walks a young nurse with a chart in her hand. She flips over the first page and smiles.

"Miss Reyes, my name is Malia, I'll be working with you today. Now, you suspect you're pregnant, correct?" the girl asks, moving to sit in a rolling chair beside where Erica lay.

"Mhmmm," the blonde answers, squeezing Derek's hand.

"Any idea how long?"

Erica shakes her head, "Couldn't tell ya."

Malia asks a few more questions about the pregnancy, writing down the information as Erica gives it to her.

"Okay, that's about it," Malia finishes up. "And this is… Derek, the father, correct?"

Derek clears his throat and answers nervously, "Uh, yeah. That's me."

"Alright, let's get started then."

Malia moves around the room, grabbing various items that Erica had no idea about.

Uncapping a tube of weird looking gel, Malia says, "This is going to be a little cold."

Erica nods and feels the cool gel slide onto her exposed belly. She watches as Malia grabs something else that she uses to spread the gel along her abdomen. All three turn to the screen Malia had just turned on, which showed Erica's ultrasound.

"Alright, nothing big is popping up, but there's definitely something there. So I'd say you are no more than six weeks along. Does that sound about right?"

"Yeah, yeah," Erica gulps.

A bit later, and Malia is finished. In Erica's hand is a packet full of information about her pregnancy. It was official and it felt so surreal.

Erica's free hand rests on her belly, just above her favorite blue shirt which she wore for good luck.

"Alright, just set up your next appointment at the desk and I'll see you guys soon," Malia smiles.

Erica and Derek head out, both of their heads spinning. Malia takes a few minutes to finish up paperwork and when she heads out of the room she literally runs into Ben.

"Oh, wow. Hi! Sorry!" she exclaims, almost dropping Erica's chart.

"I was looking for you on the other floor, it took me twenty minutes to find someone who could tell me where you were," Ben chuckles. "I didn't know you did baby stuff."

Malia tucks a strand of fallen hair behind her ear, "It's what I went to school for. I was just helping out up there because they're sort of short staffed and I wasn't cleared to have appointments on my own. But now I am so I'm down here for good."

Ben smiles, but a look of curiosity covers his face, "Was that Erica Reyes just walking out of here?"

Malia bites her lower lip, "Yes. I'm not going to tell you why, but since you know her I can't deny it was her. How do you know her, by the way?"

"We sort of dated a while ago. Well, I guess you can't really count it as dates, because she was just using me as a filler until her boyfriend got his head out of his ass. But I was kind of using her too…"

"Meaning…?" Malia trails off, confused.

"Well, her parents were murdered a while ago, and there was no murderer charged. Everyone just kind of ignored it, but there's something fishy there. In a lot of cases. There' something weird going on in Beacon Hills, let's just say that."

Malia thinks to herself,  _You have no idea…_

_\-------_

Scott sits in the living room flipping through the channels tensely. Nothing is keeping his attention because his mind is too occupied with worries about Allison and her current mental satiability. He thinks back to what Nolan has said at lunch last week, how burning Chris Argent's body was the only way to break the bond that he and Allison now shared.

"I'm going out," Melissa calls suddenly, snapping Scott out of his own head.

The teenager turns around and sees his mother standing in the foyer in a black dress that looks brand new. She's wearing red high heels and she smells like the perfume she only ever wore for really special occasions. The woman casually applies her lipstick as the boy asks, "What are you doing?"

"It's Saturday night, Scott. I've got a date."

Scott raises an eyebrow, "You've got a date? With who?"

Melissa swallows hard and glances out the small, square window that resided on the front door, "It's with Stiles' dad. Okay, I love you – don't wait up!"

Before Scott can say anything his mother is out the front door. He can hear her making her way to the Sheriff's car from where he sits. It takes no time at all for his mother to reach the older Stilinski's vehicle and it takes even less time for it to go speeding down the street.

Out of nowhere Maximus jumps up beside Scott on the couch and plops down heavily beside him the dog lets out a heavy sigh as though making the jump from the floor to the couch took every ounce of energy he had.

Scott looks down at the dog incredulously, "So I get to spend the night with mom's replacement son. Cool."

\-------

Stiles sits in his Jeep thinking about what he's going to say again and again. His eyes are shut and he's trying his hardest to maintain his composure, but his palms are sweating profusely and he can feel his left eye twitching at intervals.

"You can do this, Stiles," the boy tells himself, "this is simple. This is easy. You can do it."

Unexpectedly his cellphone begins to ring. The sound causing him to jump, he curses his jumpiness and answers the call rather flatly, "What?" he asks into the flat blue phone.

"Did you know that my mom and your dad were going on a date tonight?" Scott asks with a twinge of laughter in his tone.

"Did you know that your mom and my dad are basically boyfriend and girlfriend?" Stiles retorts, "Seriously dude, where have you been? This isn't breaking news. They've been together since like before Ron and Susan's wedding."

"Yeah, but…"

"But whatever. I gotta go, big things happening here buddy," Stiles says quickly before hanging up.

Stiles pulls the rearview mirror down and looks himself in the eyes.  _Be a man_ , he thinks to himself _, buck up and go in there and tell her you love her and that you're done being mad and that you miss her and you want her back._

With that thought Stiles gets out of his Jeep and starts toward Lydia's house. Walking up the stairs that lead up to her front door his heart begins to race as he thinks of what he's about to do. As he reaches the front door a surge of panic makes him consider running for it, however he doesn't receive the panic soon enough and his finger hits the doorbell.

A chime rings throughout the house and Stiles can hear someone coming to the door.

He feels nauseous.

The front door swings open and on the other side stands Lydia in a pale pink dress with her hair pulled into a bun. She looks beautiful.

"Okay, here it is," Stiles begins, "I love you, Lydia Martin. I have loved you for the better part of my life and what you did with Jackson hurt me. It hurt me a lot actually and I'm still mad but, god I love you. I love you in a really big, embarrassing, pathetic way. I wanna hold a radio over my head outside of your window and blast love songs to you. I want to stand on the top of the school and scream 'I LOVE LYDIA' for all of Beacon Hills to hear. I want you back, I want to stop fighting, I want to forgive you and I want us to be us again. So can we do that? Can we get past this please?"

Lydia blinks and takes a step toward the boy, "I love you too."

It's not even a coherent thought for either of them when they kiss. Their lips fit together perfectly and their bodies mesh together in all the right ways. In the seconds that tick by Stiles is almost sure that their heartbeats sync together. The two fall back into the house and Stiles kicks the door shut behind them.

The pair kiss over and over again, hopelessly. Their bodies aching for one another as they make their way back to Lydia's bedroom, where they finally reach the bed. Lydia is quick to shove Stiles onto the mattress. The girl watches as he removes his shirt and smiles lovingly at him as he leans up and kisses her his hands caressing the curve of her body in the perfect way.

Lydia opens her mouth to tell Stiles she loves him, but instead of words a scream comes out.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" the girl shrieks abruptly, scaring Stiles.

As the boy reacts to what is happening Lydia throws herself off of Stiles and stands, still screaming. She clutches at her chest as all the air in her body flows out to accommodate the scream. Her nose fills with the scent of smoke and before she knows it the scream stops and she's coughing violently.

"Lydia," Stiles asks as he gets up and rushes over to the girl, "what is it?"

"Someone…" Lydia begins shakily, "multiple someones… they're going to die, Stiles."

\-------

Allison watches from her car as Scott paces the living room floor with his cellphone to his ear. She can't be sure what it is he's saying, but whatever it is is clearly causing him a lot of distress. She watches as the boy she loves nods his head in agreement about something.

"What are you doing, Scott?" she wonders out loud.

It is long before she sees Scott pulling on his coat. She can see the boy say, "I'll be right over," before he hangs up the phone. Her eyes narrow as she watches Scott turn off the TV and then the lights in the living room. The McCall house is fully dark now.

"What is he doing?" Allison asks herself.

Minutes tick by and then the boy is walking out the front door with his motorcycle helmet tucked under his arm. She ducks down in her car as Scott locks the front door and then swiftly walks down the front porch steps and over to his green motorcycle.

In seconds Scott is on the move, taking off down the street. Instantaneously, Allison starts her car and follows him. Keeping a safe enough distance that her boyfriend can't see her following him – if he wants space, she's more than happy to oblige… to an extent.

\-------

"I think we should do it," Camilla slams her palms onto the table. "We have to try something, because if we don't, something bad is going to happen to someone. Her or us, I don't know, but we can't keep living this way."

Scott nods, and looks over at Isaac, wanting his opinion.

"We know how Erica was completely controlled by The Root and she had no idea she was doing it, maybe that's how Allison is. She's so driven by the bond she doesn't realize she's hurting others and she's hurting herself. We should try it."

Both Camilla and Isaac wait for Scott to respond. He came to them with the suggestion of breaking the bond, and they are on board.

"I think we should do it. Tonight," he says, sure of himself.

"You know I'm down. Do you have the item you used to bring her back?" Camilla asks, her fingers tapping against the table impatiently.

"Shit, no…" Scott trails off, turning his thoughts to the night he brought Allison back. "I used a picture of her… And when she came back, I don't really remember what I did with it."

Scott's eyes go blank as he focuses on that night. Suddenly, his eyes go wide.

"What if it's in her old grave? Like, buried in the dirt?"

Isaac shrugs, "I don't think they really did anything with the plot. It was marked as evidence in the "cult crime", so I doubt they let anyone be buried there."

"We need to check it out. Now," Camilla demands, standing up and moving over to where her shoes lay.

"Are you sure it could be there?" Isaac asks.

"I didn't take it with me, and Chris was… Well…"

"We get it. We have to go there. It's our only option," Camilla says from the floor, tying her shoes.

Soon enough, each of them has their jacket and shoes on and they are out the door.

"We'll take my car," Isaac offers. "I've got shovels in the trunk."

"Why?" Scott asks, a little curious.

"Are you forgetting all the shit in our lives? I knew one day they would come in handy," Isaac replies.

"Touché," Scott offers.

The night is black and humid as the three hurry across the parking lot to Isaac's car, their feet making thuds on the pavement.

Across the parking lot, hidden in the shadows, Allison watches them, her mind racing. What the hell are they doing?

Isaac's car peels out of the lot and Allison waits a few seconds, but soon turns on her own car and begins to follow them.

\-------

Nolan stands behind the counter at JavaPit listening to the Passion Pit song that's playing soothingly throughout the coffee shop. He isn't paying attention to anything and he isn't waiting on any customers – it's an incredibly slow night.

"I'm heading out," Richie the barista says, coming out of nowhere, "Maggie should be here shortly."

"Alright," Nolan sighs, "see you Tuesday."

The man nods at Nolan and walks out of the coffee shop, as he pushes the door open the bell above it jingles, it's a familiar sound and oddly comforting. Nolan looks at the clock, JavaPit would still be open for another three hours. He sighs and begins to thrum his fingers on the counter and waits for something, anything, to happen.

The bell above the door rings again, causing Nolan to perk up, but when he sees it's a group of under-classmen from school he's glad they've taken a seat in Ellis' section. Nolan resumes tapping his fingers on the counter.

Ellis comes toward him and walks behind the counter to get her customer's their drinks, "What's your deal?"

Nolan shrugs, "Just bored with everything, honestly."

"This wouldn't have anything to do with that meathead ex-boyfriend of yours, would it?"

"Maybe in part," Nolan replies with a sigh, "I don't know, I just wish something would happen. I feel on edge… there are a lot of things going on and it's like a timebomb. Everything is going to blow up and I wish it would just happen already."

"Well, I sure as hell hope I'm not around for the explosion. Looks like someone is in your section," Ellis says, pointing with her head as she fills another cup for her group of teenagers.

Reluctantly, Nolan saunters over toward the table his notepad and pen in hand, a smile plastered on his face. He plants himself in front of the woman and the boy beside her and quickly his smile fades away, replaced with a scowl, "Hi mom."

"Hello darling," Kelly beams, "this is Zachary Ballinger – you might know him, he's on the lacrosse team."

"I'm also in your AP Art class," the boy adds.

"Let me guess – good ole Zach is possessed, isn't he?" Nolan asks flatly.

Kelly sighs, "What did I say about that word?"

Nolan rolls his eyes, "Is Zach hosting someone, mother?"

"His dad was beating him," Zach informs the boy, "he'd beaten Zach's mother into a coma and he probably would've done the same thing to Zach if I hadn't stepped in and taken care of things this afternoon."

"Taken care of things?"

"I removed the problem," Zach smirks.

Nolan's eyes widen, "Jesus H. Christ, you killed him?"

"Keep your voice down, Nolan," Kelly snaps, "that last thing we need right now is questions. We already have demon hunters breathing down our backs – you want to bring the townspeople into this war too?"

The auburn haired boy shakes his head, "Can I get you two anything?"

"Nolan," Ellis says smoothly as she glides by the boy, "Meathead is here."

Nolan turns slightly and sees Jackson take a seat at the counter. His heart thuds.

"We'd like for you to form an alliance with us and not the hunters," Zachary interjects, "it would almost certainly be in everyone's best interest if you did – and it really makes the most sense since the hunters are slaughtering innocent people in the name of hate."

"I can't…" Nolan shakes his head, "I'm not forming anything with anyone. This isn't my fight, it's yours. I don't want to be involved."

"Whether you like it or not you are, darling," Kelly tells him, "you're going to need to pick a side eventually."

"Can I get either of you anything or are you simply here to try and recruit me?"

"I'll have a latte," Kelly finally says, "and Zachary will have a blueberry muffin."

Nolan nods, "I'll be right back with those for you."

Quickly the boy makes his way behind the counter and exchanges a worried glance with Jackson. The two say nothing to each other as Nolan gets his mother's latte and puts Zach's muffin into the microwave to give it a fresh out of the oven façade.

Jackson raises an eyebrow, "Are you okay?"

"Like you care." Nolan snaps, "What are you doing here? Did you come to taunt me, to make me realize how empty and broken I am about this whole thing? Because trust me, Jackson, I'm perfectly aware of how broken I am. I'm kissing straight boys in hopes that they'll suddenly decide to switch teams just for me – I have no fucking idea what I'm doing so I don't need you to come in here and remind me just how screwed up everything is. Every time I go home and see my mother's new face making dinner for me and my dad as though everything is peachy fucking keen I'm reminded."

"I'm just so sorry, Nolan," Jackson insists, "and I would do anything to fix what I broke."

"Yeah well, you blew everything into a million pieces when you went back to your girlfriend."

That's when the large window on the side of the building that gleefully read JAVAPIT broke, a large, flaming bottle crashing through the glass. Everyone in the building falls silent at the sudden intrusion.

In mere seconds three more bottles come flying in. One after another in a quick, clean succession.

Three more come flying in through the back after that.

And then, when one of the bottles goes barreling back into the kitchen with its state of the art gas stove, everything goes violently black.

\-------

"Camilla, I don't want this to offend you at all, but you should let Isaac and I do the digging since, we're, well—"

"Stronger? Well no shit, you're werewolves. I'll just hold the light, no problem. I'll keep my eyes open for the picture," she says easily, knowing that was their best option.

She grabs the light from Isaac's hand once he pulls it out of his trunk. She walks over to the grave, her dark jeans hugging her curves but not shielding her from the wind that was blowing.

Dark memories fill her mind as she remembers the pain she felt the last time she was here. She actually thought Allison was gone for good.

She shivers, either from the memories or the chill, but she feels a warm arm wrap around her. Isaac.

"We'll try and hurry, I promise," he tells her, leaning in to kiss her quick on the lips.

Camilla nods and shines the light over the plot. Allison's headstone was gone, but it was obvious where her coffin had been buried. The dirt was still semi-fresh from being overturned so recently.

The boys are quick to get at it, and soon, dirt covers their jeans, their shirts, everything. Even Camilla gets hit with a few mounds of soil.

Her hand grows tired after a while, and the boys are more than halfway into the grave. Camilla begins to lose hope. With their luck, the picture probably just blew away into the wind that night, and it was long gone.

Just as Camilla's thoughts turn sour, she spots something white inside the grave.

"Stop, stop!" she tells them, jumping into the grave with them, which was actually quite crowded, she grabs at the white, her heart pounding with hope.

The thin paper is bent and dirty, but when she flips it over, Allison's face is smiling back at her, and Camilla almost cries.

"This is it," she chokes out, showing the dirt and sweat covered boys.

"That's the picture, that's it!" Scott cheers, throwing his shovel down and grabbing the photo from Camilla's hands.

Isaac puts a dirty arm around Camilla, but she doesn't care. The might save Allison, and in turn, save themselves.

"Now let's burn this motherfucker," the girl says excitedly, her smile beaming.

Scott hands it back to her and says, "How about we get out of the grave first?"

Isaac and Scott grab their shovels and toss them over the edge of the grave.

"Camilla, you first," Scott says breathily from overexertion and overexcitement.

The brunette steps onto Scott and Isaac's outstretched hands and grabs onto the ground above as they boost her up. She feels her ass get a squeeze before she gets up over the edge.

"That better have been Isaac," she warns playfully.

"If it was Scott, he'd be dead," Isaac says with a laugh. "We're right behind you, grab the lighters. They're in the backpack."

Camilla grabs the photo from her back pocket, where she had placed it when getting out of the grave so she wouldn't drop it.

She heads over to the backpack they brought, which was resting against somebody's headstone.

She hears Isaac and Scott use their wolf strength to get themselves out of the grave and she smiles. They make their way over to wear Camilla is. It was almost over.

Her hand wraps around one of the lighter and she pulls it out of the bag. She also grabs two water bottles for the boys. Tossing the bottles over to them she smiles again.

"Shall I do the honors?" she asks, her gaze looking at them as she holds the picture and the lighter before her. Both of the boys sit down in the grass, careful not to sit on anyone's grave.

"I'd want nothing more," Scott beams, taking a large drink, as he grabs the other lighter. Ready to, with a heavy heart, burn Chris' body.

She walks over to Allison's old grave and holds the photo over the hole.

"It only seems fitting to burn it here," she tells them. With a quick flick of the lighter, the flame sparks up and she brings it next to the picture. It catches almost immediately.

What is supposed to be a happy moment turns bad quickly when, out of nowhere, Allison springs forward from the darkness, one of the abandoned shovels in hand.

She swings towards her cousin and the metal connects with Camilla's head, hard. She falls to the ground, both the lighter and the picture falling into the open grave.

Both Scott and Isaac are quick to get up on their feet. Scott rushes over to subdue Allison and Isaac rushes over to Camilla's unmoving body. Blood pours from her wound and Camilla makes no sounds or movements, her body limp.

"Why did you do this?" Allison screams. "Why are you trying to change me?" Scott throws the shovel away from her and holds onto the girl tightly. Allison thrashes against him.

"Camilla, wake up. Camilla," Isaac says over and over again.

"I swear to God, I'll kill anyone who tries to keep me away from you, Scott!" Allison screams. She was still struggling to break free from his grip.

"Isaac, get Camilla out of here, now!" Scott yells.

Isaac's anger and worry battle as he tries to move his girlfriend. Anger wins and he stands up, rushing over to Allison.

"What did you do to her?" he screams.

"What she deserved!" the girl wails back, still writhing against Scott. "And I'll do the same thing to you!"

Suddenly, Allison's body falls limp, and she stops her struggle. Her head swings forward and she has no control over her body.

"Allison?" Scott says to her, laying her limp body on the ground. "Allison?"

With a flash, the girl's eyes open, and what once was pain and anger turns into sorrow and confusion.

"Scott, what did I do?" she whimpers.

"The picture…." Isaac chokes out. "We did it. We broke the bond." He rushes over to the grave and has to squint, but the only thing inside is the lighter and ashes. "Scott, it's over."

Allison begins sobbing and she sits up making her way over to Camilla's body.

"Oh God, what did I do? What did I do?" she cries out, grabbing Camilla's bloody face. Her skin was pale.

"We need to get help, now," Scott says.

Isaac throws Allison off of his girlfriend, "Stay the hell away from her! You did this!"

Allison cries harder, "I didn't mean to. Please. I—"

"Get out of here! Scott, help me carry her to the car," Isaac demands, his hands going under Camilla's body.

"Scott, please, I can help, please. That wasn't me, I swear!" Allison begs.

Scott ignores her and rushes along with Isaac, leaving Allison alone with her tears.

Soon, Isaac's car is gone and Allison slumps onto the ground.

"Please wake up Camilla, oh God. Please. You can't die," she pleads to no one

_\-------_


	32. Don't Fear the Reaper (4x20)

"I've always hated hospitals," Camilla shudders, talking to herself as her bare feet pad against the chilly tile of the hospital floor. "But I don't mind the jell-o."

She digs her spoon into the small plastic cup and takes another satisfying bite. All around her, people rush to get to somewhere they need to be. Families sit in the waiting rooms and lean against hallway walls, their eyes puffy from crying.

She averts her eyes from an old woman who was in the arms of a doctor, sobbing. Camilla was thankful her family and friends didn't have to go through that.

Speaking of friends, Camilla spots Scott walking towards her, his eyes distracted. His hands were dug into the pockets of his dark jeans, still covered in dirt and blood.

When the boy gets a few feet away from her, Camilla says, "You know, you should really go home and change. I'm fine."

But Scott doesn't register her voice, or even look at her. Camilla frowns as he keeps walking towards her, ignoring her.

"Scott!" she calls out angrily.

Still no reaction and Camilla reaches out her hand to grab the boy's shirt before we walks right past her, but when she moves her arm, Scott walks right through it.

Camilla's arm is frozen, her heart pounding and her brain whirring.

"What in the actual fuck?" she says to no one.

She turns around and watches as Scott sits down in one of the waiting room chairs and puts his head in his hands.

Why was he so upset still? Why hadn't he gone back home to change? Why did he ignore Camilla and walk right through her?

A nurse in light blue scrubs comes towards Camilla, in her hands a chart for a patient somewhere.

"Excuse me miss?" she asks politely, standing in her way to test a theory.

Yet, the woman shows no sign of hearing Camilla and keeps walking. Only this time, instead of just passing through an arm, the woman passes through Camilla's whole body.

Camilla flips around and the nurse keeps walking like nothing had happened.

"What is going on?" Camilla screams to anyone. "Can anyone hear me?"

Camilla looks around for a sign of any person who heard her cries.

"Anyone?"

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Isaac's hands rest in his lap, white from clenching his fists so tightly for so long.

Ron sits beside him, his eyes red and puffy, an unread newspaper folded up against his thigh.

Neither of them speak, but there really is nothing to say. Camilla lies in the white hospital bed before them, tubes connected in tons of places. Her normally tan skin looks pale and sickly, the huge gash in her head covered up by white bandages.

Quietly, Scott walks in with three water bottles, handing two of them out to Isaac and Ron who take them but don't open them.

Scott finds the seat he had been occupying before and slumps into it.

"Has the doctor said anything else?" he asks quietly, already knowing the answer.

Ron shakes his head, "You know everything we know. Camilla is unresponsive due to brain injury and now we just have to see if she'll... wake up..."

The last few words are hard for the man to choke out, and tears well up in his eyes. His hands go to his mouth to help him focus on not crying.

Isaac's jaw clenches, his eyes never leaving Camilla's weak body.

In his head he repeats the words "Wake up, baby" over and over again.

Scott's phone beeps out of nowhere and the boy pulls it out from his pocket.

His eyes quickly scanning the screen, he replaces the phone after a moment.

"Lydia and Stiles are here. They say there's no news on Nolan either and no one has seen Jackson..." Scott tells the two, who nod in response.

Silence fills the room like it had been doing ever since Camilla was brought in. But after a moment, Ron speaks his voice cracking.

"How did this happen?"

\-------

Allison paces in the fourth floor waiting area. Her heart is beating at an alarming rate as the gravity of what she potentially did hits her. She can't believe herself. How could she hurt Camilla? How could she want to  _kill_  Camilla? That's what she had wanted to do in the cemetery seconds before the bond between her and Scott had been broken.

"I'm such a goddamn idiot," the girl says to herself as she continues to pace.

Lydia stands up and gets in front of her friend, stopping the girl from anymore pacing, "You aren't. It wasn't you that hit Camilla; it was Resurrected-Allison that was bonded to Scott. This you, the stable you, would never have even dreamt of hurting Camilla."

"I killed my cousin," Allison says flatly.

"Don't say that," Stiles barks, "Camilla isn't dead. She can't be. You need to believe that just as much as the rest of us do."

"I can't even go back to see her," Allison states, "Ron won't let me. He'd rather Isaac and Scott be back there. They're more family to him than I am because I'm the monster who killed his little girl. Ron hates me."

"No he doesn't," Lydia sighs, sitting back down – seeing as her attempt at calming Allison was fruitless.

"Isaac hates me," Allison continues.

"No he doesn't," Stiles assures her.

"And Scott… god, Scott hates me too."

"No he doesn't," the two other teens say in unison.

"Oh yes he does. He thinks I'm a complete and utter lunatic who needs to be thrown into Eichen House… and maybe I should. I mean I drugged my cousin's boyfriend Friday night by accident – accident because he wasn't supposed to be drinking the drink he drank, it was actually meant for Scott."

"You have to stop this Allison," Lydia snaps, "the person who did that wasn't you. It was Resurrected-Allison. It was someone who was so absolutely devoted to Scott she would have done anything to be with him. You were a prisoner to Scott because you felt you owed him for bringing you back."

"But I-"

"Camilla is going to make it, alright? That's all you need to be thinking right now. It's your new mantra in fact. Camilla will be fine. Now stop pacing and say it."

Allison locks eyes with her friend and reluctantly stops pacing.

"Camilla will be fine."

\-------

Nolan walks down the frighteningly deserted halls of Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital. The place seems brighter than he'd ever noticed before and the ringing in his ears makes the whole scene seem like something out of a Wes Craven film.

The boy looks into hospital rooms as he continues down the hall and sees bed after bed. Some completely empty, some chockfull of people smiling and crying over the sudden good health of their loved ones, and some with doctors hovering over a patient who is unresponsive.

Everything feels like a dream to Nolan at this point. He's not sure why he feels this way or why he's so sure that this isn't a dream, but he can't fathom anything that is happening. He can't understand why people are walking straight past him; he can't comprehend why it is that none of the nurses on the floor have asked him what he's doing.

Abruptly the boy stops moving and looks around him, he tilts his head slightly and then asks out loud, "Am I dead?"

There's no response from anyone in close proximity.

"Holy shit," Nolan speaks again, "I'm not.. I… can't be dead... Can I?"

A doctor in a white lab coat walks by him, so close that they nearly touch. It's the exact confirmation that Nolan needed to know that his theory was correct. He shakes his head and reaches out to brace himself against the wall, suddenly feeling faint.

"How did this…?"

The explosion.

Six Molotov cocktails, one after another, flying through the JavaPit windows and sending the whole places up in flames – he'd been in an explosion and now he was dead.

"Nolan, is that you?"

\-------

Marcel Hayes walks through the hospital doors and rushes to the front desk. His mind is racing and he feels a constant tug at his heart. He's tense and his tone is harsh when he says, "I need to be directed to Nolan Hayes' room. I'm his father."

Melissa looks up at the man and smiles weakly at him, writing off his sharpness as stress – completely justifiable in the moment.

"He's up in room 413," Melissa tells him, "would you like someone to go with you?"

"413… that's on the fourth floor, right?"

"Yes, would you like someo-?"

The nurse doesn't even get the sentence out before Marcel is off and to the elevator. He reaches the shiny elevator doors and presses the up button twenty times before the doors slowly open and he gets inside.

Once the man is inside he presses the 4 button another twenty times before the doors shut and he begins to move upward. Marcel's mind fills with worst case scenarios. He thinks Nolan is on life support, that he'll have to make the painful call to end treatment… or that he'll be informed that his son is in a vegetative state or that he'll hear that Nolan will have permanent mental deficits.

The elevator suddenly stops and the doors open and Marcel realizes he's on the fourth floor.

As fast as he can Marcel races down the halls in search of 413. When he finds it, door shut and blinds drawn, he braces himself for what he's going to see when he enters. Marcel swallows hard and then turns the door handle and steps inside.

Inside the room lays Nolan. He's connected to a ventilator and his heart monitor beeps slowly and steadily. Beside the bed is Kelly, her hair is clipped to her head and on the back of her neck is a large bandage, on her cheek is a line of stitches, and underneath her nose is dried blood.

Marcel exhales heavily, "What… oh god,  _what happened?_ "

Kelly looks up at her husband and he sees know her tear swollen eyes, "We were at the JavaPit and Nolan went to get me my coffee and then out of nowhere these Molotov cocktails come crashing through the window and then… kaboom."

Tears are stinging at Marcel's eyes, "Who would do something like that?"

"The Hunters," Kelly says vehemently, "they were trying to kill me, Marcel. They wanted me dead and Nolan was in the crosshairs."

"The Hunters did this?"

"How could Annalise have turned on me… on us like this? This is her little brother, Marcel. This is the boy she was so excited to meet when I was pregnant and now… she let them come after me knowing he was there and when the explosion happened I… I saw Nolan thrown."

"Annalise…?" Marcel is very slowly procession all of the information, in shock from seeing his wife and son in their current condition.

"He's innocent in all of this," Kelly chokes out as she begins to run her hand through her son's auburn hair, "he's my darling, innocent baby… and now he might not wake up. He could die because of who he is."

"He might not wake up," Marcel echoes as he steps closer to his son and places one hand on Nolan's knee and the other on Kelly's shoulder.

Kelly stares up at her husband, tears streaming down her face, "I just got him back and now he might leave me."

It's those words that pull Marcel completely into the room and make him fully understand what is happening right in front of him.

Nolan might die.

\-------

Camilla swings her legs, sitting on the edge of one of the front desks. No one notices, obviously.

"So, um, like, how do we get out of here?" Nolan gulps, running a hand through his hair nervously.

"Do you really think I know? The last thing I remember is trying to burn that stupid picture of Allison, and then BAM, here I am," Camilla responds.

"All I remember is the sound of glass shattering..." Nolan adds softly. "Seriously, what if we're dead?"

Camilla shrugs, "I really don't know. But why would we be here? Isn't there somewhere else they send us?"

"Have you tried leaving?" Nolan asks.

Camilla frowns, "No. I never really thought about it. I don't know, it just doesn't feel... right to leave I guess."

"Yeah I know what you mean. I feel like I'm supposed to be here even though I have no idea why."

The two stare at each other, both of their minds trying to come up with any solution they can. Both are dressed in hospital gowns, but nothing looks wrong with either of them.

"Well, I'm bored," Camilla states, jumping down from the desk. "Let's explore, shall we?"

"I don't see anything better to do," Nolan says, following Camilla as she moves towards the elevator.

"I wonder if we can use this thing," Camilla thinks out loud. Her hand reaches to push the button, but before it gets close enough, the doors open revealing a redheaded woman standing inside.

"Can't hurt to try, right?" Nolan says, but neither of them makes a step to go inside.

The woman on the elevator doesn't move either, her eyes looking directly at Camilla and Nolan.

"That's kinda creepy, it's like she sees us," Camilla says softly, her eyes drifting over the curious woman who was dressed in all black and had a slight smile on her lips.

"I feel the same way..." Nolan says even quieter.

"Let's just wait until the elevator comes back," Camilla tells Nolan. "She just gives me a weird vibe."

"Agreed."

The two watch as the doors close slowly, the woman's eyes never leaving either of them, her body never moving.

"It's so weird being in this place, whatever it is," Camilla says with a sigh as they wait for the elevator to return.

"I just don't get why we're both here. And why there's no one else."

Before Camilla can respond, the elevator dings and the doors slide open once again. Much to their dismay, the same woman stands in the elevator. The same smile and same gaze.

"Screw it," Camilla says, stepping onto the elevator. "She's probably some nutcase who escaped from the psych ward. She can't hurt us."

Nolan reluctantly follows and soon the elevator doors shut. Both kids stand as far away from the woman as they can.

"Is it just me or is she staring at us?" Nolan says nonchalantly, his eyes glancing back and forth at the woman.

"Just ignore her," Camilla tells him, though she felt the same uneasiness.

As the elevator climbs, neither of them speak. Finally the elevator dings once again and the doors begin to open.

"Thank God," Camilla says breathily, happy to escape.

Both she and Nolan exit the elevator, and surprisingly, so does the woman.

"It's just a coincidence," Nolan tries to convince himself and Camilla.

The two still feel paranoid and walk quickly away from the woman, eager to get out of her presence.

Yet the woman follows after them, slowly but surely.

Camilla quickly grabs Nolan's arm (somehow) and pulls him into a janitor's closet merely by walking through the door.

"What are you doing? You realize she probably can't see us right? It's just some weird coincidence..." Nolan whisper shouts.

"Well then let's just give it a couple minutes and make sure. No harm in that, right?"

Nolan rolls his eyes and looks around.

After a few moments, Camilla nods and the two move through the door again.

Looking both ways, they don't see the mysterious woman anywhere, and they both sigh from relief.

"See? Nothing to worry about," Nolan says with a smile.

"Wanna go check out the babies?" Camilla suggests.

Nolan nods and the two walk down the hallway, at ease once again.

"You know how babies are supposedly really susceptible to ghosts and supernatural and stuff?" Nolan says after a moment, his arms swinging at his sides.

"Yeah..."

"I wonder if they'll be able to... like, see us or feel us or something."

Camilla ponders the thought as they turn the corner, but before she can respond, the two are stopped dead in their tracks.

Right before them stands the same woman, her eyes directly on them.

Before either of them can speak or move, the woman opens her mouth.

"No, they can't see or feel you," she tells the two.

Both of them shiver at hearing her voice, and both are too shocked to say anything.

"I'm sorry if I frightened you," the woman says sheepishly. "I'm sure you have plenty of questions that I'd be happy to answer."

Still, neither says a word.

"For starters," the woman says when neither of them speaks, "you're in limbo. The place between life and afterlife. This means that you are on the verge of death, but your body and your soul are not ready to part. So there are only two options: letting go of your physical body and joining the afterlife, or finding the strength to reunite your body with your soul."

Her words are met with silence once again.

"I know this is a lot to take in. It always is..."

"How do you know so much about this? Why are you here?" Camilla blurts out.

The woman smiles, "Well, dear, I'm a Reaper. I'm here to help make the transition from limbo to the afterworld. If your soul is ready."

"What if we don't want to go to the afterworld or whatever?" Nolan asks cautiously.

"No one wants to die, my dear. That's how it always is. But really, it is all up to fate. You are either ready to go or you're not. And the point of being in limbo is to figure it out. Even I don't know who is ready to move on and who isn't."

"How long until we know?" Camilla asks.

"The time spent in limbo is almost equivalent to a full human day. If you can find your body and reconnect it with the soul, you go back to your life. But if you fail to find your body, it means it is your time to go."

"Well how do we find our bodies?"

"You simply must search. If you are meant to find your body, have no doubt that you will. But if the afterlife is where you belong, you won't find your body and I will take you with me. Look, dears, I've told you all I can, but now it is your turn. I'll be back."

With a final smile, the woman turns and walks down the hallway, leaving both Camilla and Nolan with immense fear for what happens next.

\-------

Derek and Erica rush through the elevator doors, finally arriving on the floor they needed. Their eyes instantly spot Lydia, Stiles, and Allison in the waiting room, and they begin to move in that direction.

Stiles is the first to see the couple and he stands up, his face full of sorrow.

"Any news?" Erica asks as soon as they are within earshot. Stiles shakes his head and Erica frowns.

She and Derek take two seats next to Lydia who grabs Erica's hand and squeezes it.

Erica's eyes find Allison and the blonde doesn't hide her glare from anyone.

Allison notices the daggers and lowers her head, knowing everyone was probably thinking the same thing Erica is.

Awkward silence fills the waiting area, and no one knows how to break it.

"Erica! Derek! Hi!" a cheery voice calls from behind them. The whole group turns to spot Malia walking towards them.

"Hey, Malia," Erica smiles halfheartedly.

"I totally forgot to give you guys your sonogram pictures the other day, I'm so sorry!" Malia gushes. "The guy I'm seeing was there and he caught me by surprise so I didn't get them to the front desk to give to you in time."

Erica's stomach drops as she realizes all of her friends probably heard what Malia said.

"Anyways," the nurse continues, "I'll go grab them and bring them back really quick if you'll be here for a few more minutes...?"

Erica swallows tightly, "Yeah, two of our, um, friends are here with serious injuries so we'll be here."

"Oh. I'm so sorry I had no idea..."

"Don't worry about it," Erica says.

"Well, I'll be right back with those pictures," Malia offers, hurrying away.

Erica and Derek refuse to look at anyone, waiting for their reactions.

"D-did I hear her say sonogram pictures?" Stiles coughs out.

Erica bites her lip and opens her mouth to speak but Derek beats her to it.

"Yeah, you did. And that's all you need to know," he says snappily, grabbing Erica's hand.

Lydia smiles and leans in to whisper "Congratulations" to Erica, who smiles and relaxes a little.

"Well, I'm happy for you two," Allison says softly with a small smile.

Erica's eyes snap over to the brunette.

"We don't need you to be happy for us. This has nothing to do with you," she says angrily.

Allison cringes at the words, and her sorrow at what she did returns.

\-------

"What in the hell should we do?" Camilla says angrily, pacing the hallway floor. "It's not like we can go up to the front desk and ask where our bodies are!"

"Well, why don't we start by going back to the floor we started on?" Nolan suggests, biting his nails from nervousness.

"And how are we supposed to do that when we can't press any of the buttons for the elevator?"

Nolan frowns, and then responds, "What about the stairs?"

Camilla shrugs and says, "Whatever, it's better than nothing."

The two follow the signs leading to the stairs, but before they make it, they both hear a small cry.

Camilla's arm shoots out to stop Nolan in his tracks.

"Did you hear that?" she asks him, her eyes twitching back and forth.

"Yeah, it's probably just from the real world. We can still hear them sometimes..." Nolan says slowly, keeping his ears open for another sound.

Just when the two are about to move onto the stairs, they hear another cry.

"Mommy? Daddy? Why can't you see me?"

"It came from that waiting room," Nolan says quietly, pointing to their left at the room in question.

Slowly, the two pad along the floor, and as they get closer, they hear the sounds of a sobbing child. When they get close enough, they see a little girl kneeling in front of two people sitting in chairs, crying.

"Mommy!" the little girl sobs, attempting once again to grab her mother, but her hand only passes through the woman's body.

"Sweetheart, she can't hear you," Camilla says softly. The girl jumps a little, her head snapping over to look at the brunette who had spoken.

"What do you mean? Who are you?" the girl whines, her eyes filled with tears, her nose snotting.

"I don't really know why she can't, but right now we're not in the same world that she is. All three of us. My name is Camilla and this is Nolan," she tells the girl, moving in closer.

"Are we in heaven?" the girl asks, her chin wobbling.

"No, we're not..."

The girl looks back and forth from Nolan to Camilla.

"Why? Why can't we go back? I want to go back!" the girl cries, putting her head in her hands.

Camilla rushes forward and puts a soothing hand on her back.

"We can help you get back. All you need to do is find where... your body is in the other world. What's the last thing you remember?" she asks the girl.

Sniffling, the girl tries to think.

"I was playing... in my front yard with my friend Alex. And the ball went into the street and so I went to go get it and then I heard Alex yell... And I don't remember the rest..."

Nolan speaks for the first time, saying softly to Camilla, "She's probably on this floor since this is where her parents are..."

Camilla nods and turns back to the girl, "Okay, sweetie. We're going to help you get back to your parents okay? What's your name?"

"Brooke," she says, her breathing slowing down.

Camilla stands up and holds an outstretched hand out, "C'mon, Brooke, let's get you back."

Reluctantly, Brooke reaches out her hand and grabs onto Camilla's.

She stands up, nodding as she does so.

The three walk into the hallway and look around.

"Here goes nothing," Camilla says.

\-------

Annalise buzzes down the halls of the hospital. Her heart is in her throat as images of what could have happened to her little brother flood her head. The girl spots Malia sitting at the nurse's station flipping through a Cosmo.

"What happened?" Annalise asks before she even reaches her friend.

Malia looks up and blinks hard before standing and walking around to wrap the other girl in a hug.

"There was an explosion," Malia tells her, "it was more than likely one of us. The target was your mother, and you know what Trevor said… we were supposed to take her out if we could and a couple of ragtag jackasses thought they had a shot."

"Explosion?"

"An employee at JavaPit was DOA," Malia continues, "a boy we ID'd as Zachary Ballinger was also pronounced when he arrived. There were six girls at JavaPit, two died in surgery, another is currently undergoing a leg amputation, and a fourth is in a drug induced coma until the swelling in her brain goes down enough that Dr. Hendry can operate."

"That's only four," Annalise notes.

"Two of them were dead before the ambulances arrived."

"Oh my… Nolan. What happened to Nolan is he… he isn't dea… is he?"

Malia shakes her head, "His injuries were severe, but none required surgery. He's out though… and…"

"And what?"

"Annalise, I –"

"Malia, you're my best friend and I love you, but I swear to god if you don't tell me what is going on with my brother right now I'm going to punch you in the face."

"His injuries were severe, Annalise. He's down for the count and Dr. Burke, Dr. Hendry, Dr. Avery… none of them knows if he's going to wake up or not."

Annalise mouth comes to her mouth and tears sting her eyes, "Oh my god."

"What the hell do you think you're doing here?" a man's deep voice interjects. Annalise turns around just as her father's hand makes contact with her face in a violent slap. The girls' hand instantly comes up to her stinging cheek as she stares at her father's tear stained face.

"Mr. Hayes," Malia shouts in protest at the man's action.

"You ignorant little girl," Marcel begins, "how dare you show your face after what you and your merry troupe of assholes has done to this family. You think your mother is one of the monsters, but god dammit, Annalise you and those godforsaken hunters are the monsters. YOU'RE ONE OF THE MONSTERS, ANNALISE! YOU ARE!"

"Daddy…" Annalise whimpers as she watches her father walk away, disgust and disappointment vibrating off of him.

Malia puts her hand over the hand Annalise holds over her red cheek, "Are you alright? Jesus he was brutal…"

Tears slowly slide down Annalise's face, "He was right… we are the monsters."

Malia wraps her arm around Annalise and walks her friend down the hall, shushing her to the best of her ability.

Lydia stands on the opposite side of the nurse's station where she had been for the last several minutes, she sets down the two cups of coffee that she has in her hands and rushes toward the waiting room and to her friends.

As she approaches, her pink skirt flowing behind her in the process, Stiles stares up at her completely confused, "Where's my coffee?"

"It was the demon hunters," Lydia says, ignoring the boy, "what happened to Nolan – the explosion at JavaPit… it was the Hunters."

"Oh my god…" Allison whispers.

"How do you know?" Derek asks from beside Erica.

"I just saw Nolan's sister and father fighting about it."

Erica raises an eyebrow, "So they were trying to kill Nolan? That doesn't make any sense I mean Nolan isn't… he's not… I mean he's  _Nolan_. The kid is about as dangerous as a Snickers."

Lydia shakes her head, "They weren't after Nolan. They were after his mother. Nolan was collateral damage. Hurting him wasn't something they even considered I'd be willing to wager. Neither was killing four innocent girls for no other reason than devout hatred for the demons."

"Yeah, the demons who are suddenly seeming like a bunch of friggin puppies compared to the explosive-happy Hunters," Stiles quips.

All the teens fall back in their seats exhausted, confused, and scared. They're all hoping for a miracle. Camilla is still unconscious as well and no one knows if she'll wake up either. Allison begins to fidget in her seat.

"They're going to be fine," the dark haired girl says, "they are both going to be fine."

\-------

Camilla and Nolan walk down the halls with Brooke, although neither teen knows where the girl's parents are they know that they're here somewhere on the pediatric floor.

Nolan abruptly gets down to Brooke's level and smiles at her soothingly, "Can you tell me your last name sweetie?"

"It's Murphy. Brooke Elise Murphy," the little girl replies, wiping away the last of her tears.

"Why are you asking for her name?" Camilla asks Nolan.

The boy points to the nurse's station a few feet away, "The charts are over there. If we know her name we can find her chart and her room number and she'll be out of limbo and into the world of the living."

"You're a genius," Camilla compliments.

"Thank you," Nolan smiles.

The three kids head over to the nurse's station in search of Brooke's chart. Knowing that they can't pick anything up results in a type of anxiety for Camilla, but as they reach the area abuzz with nurses Camilla can't help but think this will work.

Nolan wastes no time in getting behind the desk in search of Brooke's chart. His eyes scan over the stacks of pale blue binders, seeing name after name. Katherine Albertson, Hanson Applebaum, Becca Fitzpatrick, Lily Fitzsimmons, Bailey Grey, Daniel Harper, Will Kipling…

"Anything?" Camilla asks from the other side of the nurse's station, with Brooke's hand still in her's.

"Not yet…" Nolan replies, his eyes still scanning charts.

"I'm scared," Brooke says suddenly.

Camilla and Nolan exchange a glance and then Camilla gets down to Brooke's height and says, "It's okay. I'm scared too and so is Nolan. We're all scared, but it's going to be fine and do you wanna know why?"

Brooke nods her blonde head.

"Because Nolan and I? We've battled some big, bad monsters in the past," Camilla tells her, "some big gross beasts and we've won every time and this – what we're going through right now is just another monster and we're going to beat it."

"Do you promise?" Brooke questions, her voice signaling another round of tears.

"I do, I promise," Camilla replies as she pulls the girl into a hug.

"GOT IT!" Nolan shouts, "Brooke E. Murphy room 212!"

Camilla, still hugging Brooke, whispers into the girl's ear, "What did I tell ya?"

Nolan comes back around the desk and points down the hall, "We gotta get her there!"

The three kids speed down the hallway, passing room after room after room. Camilla's heart is racing as they come up to room 211 and then 212. The brunette squeezes the little girl's hand hard and beams down at her.

"Time for you to head home, kiddo."

Brooke smiles up at Camilla and giggles, "You're funny."

"Well thank you sweetie," Camilla laughs.

The three of them peer into the room and see Brooke's unmoving body. Her heart monitor beeps at intervals but other than that the room is silent.

"How do I wake up?" Brooke asks.

"Uh," Nolan begins, "just go and touch your hand."

Brooke nods and lets go of Camilla's hand, the little girl takes a step forward and into the room and moves ever so slowly to her body. As Brooke reaches the bed she turns back and smiles at the teenagers before she places her hand on the sleeping Brooke.

A bright light shines out of nowhere and then in seconds Camilla and Nolan see the little girl's eyes open.

"Well, that was fulfilling," Camilla says to Nolan.

"Now we just need to find ourselves," Nolan says to the girl.

"How much time do we have left?"

Nolan shrugs, "Probably not enough… this is a big hospital."

"Okay, we just need to think. We both suffered severe trauma… so we'd probably be on the trauma floor, right?"

"Yes! And trauma is the fourth floor – I remember because that's the floor you were on this summer after your whole 'I See Dead People,' romp."

"So we just need to get up to the fourth floor, find the nurse's station and find our names and boom bang we're not going with the Lady in Black."

The two share a nod and then rush toward the stairs, their shoes clacking against the floor. When the reach the stairwell the run up ward, taking two stairs at a time, they're both breathless when they reach the third floor.

Huffing and puffing the teenagers take their time walking up the two flights of stairs to the fourth floor and they reach it sooner than they thought. Hope swells in both of them when they get to the landing and are able to walk out and onto the trauma floor.

Stepping out the see a small waiting area where Erica, Derek, Stiles, Lydia, and Allison all sit with worried expressions. Camilla nearly cries with joy when she sees them.

"We're gonna do it," Nolan says breathlessly.

"Yeah, yeah we are!" Camilla laughs.

Camilla and Nolan proceed down toward the nurse's station that was much further down the hall than they had anticipated. Getting a running start the teenagers laugh their way down they're so close they can taste it.

They're steps away from the nurse's station when suddenly Camilla stops, her heart caught in her throat.

"Nolan… that's my dad. That's my dad and that's Isaac… I found me! Nolan I found myself!"

A smile spreads across Nolan's face, "Go! Go back to your body! I'll see you in the land of the living."

"Yeah, okay, well hurry because you only have…" Camilla turns and looks at the clock above the vending machine, "seven minutes."

"I got this, go be alive," Nolan insists as her rushes down to the place where he'll be able to find himself.

He just reaches the desk and spots the charts when suddenly the reaper he and Camilla had spoken to earlier appears. Her face is sullen and the black veil over her eyes sends a chill down Nolan's spine.

"Time's up, dear," she says in her haunting whisper.

"No it isn't," Nolan replies as he begins going through the charts, "I've got five minutes. I'm going to find my name and then I'm going to find my body and I'm going to wake up and I won't have to see you for a very long time."

"No, dear, I'm afraid you've already run out of time. You have to come with me."

The boy's heart thumps painfully, "What… I… no. No. I want to go back."

"You were only allotted a certain amount of time…"

"No I.. I have to go back. I can't I had – I had intimacy issues. I couldn't let Jackson back into my heart because I was afraid, but I'm not anymore. I'm not afraid, I want him and I want to be happy and... and… do you have any idea how stupid this all seems now?"

"I'm sorry…"

"NO! I have to go back; I have to go back…"

The reaper shakes her head, "It's time."

\-------


	33. Scar Tissue (4x21)

The first thing she hears is an incessant beeping. Over and over, the same tone. Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Someone turn that thing off!" she screams in her head, her words not able to be formed in her mouth. Beep. Beep. Beep.

With effort, Camilla pushes her eyes open and groans softly, almost inaudibly.

Scott and Isaac, with their keen hearing, whip their heads to look at the comatose girl.

"I'm awake," her voice scratches out, feeling unnatural in her throat.

All three of the men rush to get closer to her side, and Ron grabs his daughter's pale and fragile hand, placing it in between his own.

"Camilla, baby, are you okay?" he says sweetly to his daughter, feeling tears well in his eyes.

"I feel like I got hit with a load of bricks but..."

Suddenly, Camilla's eyes go wide, and she rustles in her hospital bed.

"Nolan," she chokes out, "How is Nolan?"

Isaac looks from Scott to Ron, not knowing the answer, "We don't know, babe. We've been here with you the whole time."

"Well I'm fine go check on Nolan! Now! Please!" she begs, the heart monitor beeping even faster.

"Honey, first we need to get a nurse in here before we-"

"Dad, I swear to God, I am fine. Please. I need to know if Nolan is okay," Camilla asks again, her eyes full of fright.

"How did you even know Nolan was-" Scott begins, only to be interrupted by a nurse walking in.

She smiles when she spots the freshly-awakened Camilla, "I thought I heard some commotion in here. Let's get some tests started, okay?"

"Scott, go," Camilla commands him, her eyes hard on his.

The boy nods and squeezes past the nurse into the hallway.

"How did she know Nolan was hurt if she was in a coma this whole time?" he mutters under his breath as his feet clap against the white hospital tile.

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Scott steps into room 413 and sees Nolan lying in his bed. The boy is pale, scraped up and looks as though he's on death's door. The werewolf peers around the empty room, looking to see if Nolan's parents are anywhere and we he sees that the boy is all alone he feels a pang.

Scott goes closer to Nolan's bed and reaches a hand out, planning to use his werewolf abilities to ease the pain he's sure the boy has.

As soon as Scott's hand makes contact with Nolan's arm the boy begins to convulse violently and then abruptly stops. Nolan's heart monitor goes flat, a shrill sound filling the room.

Instantly, nurses and doctors fill the room. They push Scott to the side and begin to do CPR on Nolan. They remove the ventilator and use an ambu bag. More doctors come in with a crash cart and an intern in light blue scrubs yells, "Charge to 300… clear.." and shocks Nolan.

The doctors look over to the monitor and wait for a change.

"Nothing," a nurse says, "Dr. Hendry?"

"Charge to 360," the doctor replies. The nurse obliges and eventually the woman says, "Clear!"

The paddle shock Nolan.

"He's still in V-fib," another doctor announces.

"Is my friend gonna be okay?" Scott asks, yanking some attention to him.

As soon as the words leave Scott's mouth Nolan's eyes shoot open and the boy's heart monitor returns to normal. The boy in the hospital bed looks around the room nervously at the group of medical practitioners.

"He's back," Dr. Hendry says with a sigh, "he's back, we got him. He's back."

\-------

Lydia shakes her knees up and down, her nerves on edge. Two of her friends were hurt and all she could do was sit on her perfectly sculpted ass and do nothing.

Sitting there, waiting for news, wishing both of her friends would wake up...

Her normally perfect manicure was destroyed by her teeth, nailbiting being her only solace in this hell of a situation. Stiles was across the room, snoring, of course. At least someone was able to fall asleep. Sleep tugs at Lydia's eyes, but she wouldn't, couldn't, give in.

She is about to go to town on another fingernail when she feels a warm hand on her shoulder.

Startled, she turns quickly, relaxing when she spots Camilla's father.

"Any news?" she chirps out, asking the same question she had been asking for a long time.

Ron fights a smile, and Lydia notices his tears. Hope spreads in her chest. She waits to hear the words... It has to be true...

"Camilla woke up," he says after a moment of collecting himself. His tears flow more freely, and his hand squeezes Lydia's shoulder.

Erica perks up in her seat and her mouth opens, "Can we... Can we see her?"

Ron nods, "She was worried none of you were here and threatened to kick all of your... butts, but I told her you had all been waiting."

"Sounds like Camilla," Erica laughs a relieving laugh. Derek squeezes her hand, and Erica smiles, finally able to relax.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Lydia asks, rising from her seat and smoothing out her clothes. When she passes by the still-sleeping Stiles, she whacks him on the knee, making the boy jump.

"What? What? I wasn't doing it... What?" he slurs out, his eyes wide with confusion.

"Get up, idiot, Camilla woke up," Lydia says, offering her hand for him to take.

Stiles opens his mouth, but no words come out. He takes Lydia's outstretched hand and stands up.

The group seeps from the waiting room, and Ron waits to follow them. Before Allison can get out, though, Ron stops her.

"Allison... This is really hard for me to say, but..." he begins, not looking th girl in her face.

"But Camilla doesn't want me there," Allison shakes her head, biting on her lip. "And why would she?"

Defeated, she heads back to her seat and sits down.

"She's just... Not ready. I'm sorry, Allison," Ron says, not adding anything else. After an awkward pause, he follows after the others, leaving Allison alone.

Once everyone is in the room and multiple hugs are given out, Camilla sits happily in her bed. Isaac's thumb brushes against her knuckles as he holds her hand, and Camilla is finally beginning to relax.

Without warning, Scott clambers into the room, his face flushed.

Knowing immediately what he was there for, Camilla twitches up, ready for any news.

"Nolan... He's... he's okay."

\-------

Annalise storms into the room full of hunters with a scowl glued to her face.

"Hayes," Lisa says with a half smile.

"Who did it?" the dark haired Annalise asks angrily, "Who the hell threw the Molotov fucking cocktails into JavaPit and nearly killed my brother?"

"I did it," a woman named Mandy says, "and I'd do it again too. I was instructed by my superior to take at Kelly Hayes at any chance I got. I saw my opportunity and I took it."

Annalise rushes at the girl and punches her square in the jaw, "YOU COULD HAVE KILLED MY BROTHER!"

Mandy rubs her jaw, "Yeah, well I didn't! I barely even scratched my main target anyway."

"You killed six innocent people you ignorant bitch. You see a target and you ask yourself if you'll be doing more harm than good if you take it out. You did more goddamn harm. WEIGH YOUR OPTIONS BEFORE YOU EVER DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS AGAIN!" Annalise screams.

"Hayes, what the hell is the meaning of this?" Trevor asks as he approaches the two women.

"Little Lise is just pissy because I went after her mommy and hurt her baby bro in the process," Mandy says quickly, "wonder how your brother's little puppy dog is – I put a little something in one of the cocktails when I saw him in the coffee shop."

"What?" Annalise asks, still seething.

"Wolfsbane, sweetie. I dosed one of the cocktails with wolfsbane in hopes of taking out a hellhound along with your hellbitch of a mother."

Annalise tries to swing at Mandy again, but is held back by Trevor this time, "Hayes, stand down," the man instructs.

"This is absolutely insane," Annalise shouts, "we are demon hunters. Not werewolf hunters and sure as shit not murderers. Tonight one of ours decided she was all three. Trevor, how can you just standby and watch it happen? How can you not reprimand her?"

"It was the mission, Hayes," Trevor replies, "I sent her out. I gave her the okay before she did anything."

"You WHAT?"

"I gave Gold the go ahead."

"I… wha… this is fucking crazy," Annalise yells, turning to face the rest of the hunters, "if we are going to act like this we aren't any better than the demons we're trying to eradicate! This is absolutely incorrigible and I don't know if I can be a part of it anymore."

"What the hell are you saying, Annalise," Cole asks, coming up behind Trevor.

"I need a timeout is what I'm saying… my brother may very well be dead at any second and if that happens – if Nolan dies – I'm not sure I can continue being with this troop."

"Annalise," Lisa begins, but Annalise is already to the door and out in the hallway of the apartment complex.

The girl is already to the stairs when her cellphone rings. She pulls the phone out from her pocket and looks down at the screen where she sees Malia's name. Her heart catches in her throat and she stops breathing.

This is it.

Nolan could be dead.

Annalise takes one more second and then puts the phone up to her ear, "Hello?" she asks, exhaling as she does so.

"Nolan is awake," Malia responds, "he's awake and responsive and… he's fine, Annalise. He's going to be perfectly fine."

Annalise crumbles then, falling against the wall. She drops her phone and begins to cry.

\-------

Lydia stands outside Nolan's room her hand over her chest. She feels immense relief at having both of her friends alive. She squeezes her eyes shut as absolute liberation washes over her – she's no longer on edge and suddenly, very suddenly, the girl is exhausted.

There's a buzzing in her purse and the girl quickly produces her iPhone, not even checking to see who is calling the girl accepts the call and puts the device to her ear.

"Yes?" she says, the sleepiness evident in her tone.

"Lydia.. it's Jackson.."

"What?" the girl asks, instantly awake, "Where are you? Are you okay? What happened to you?"

"I… I'm not sure," Jackson replies, "I don't remember is the thing. I just woke up and my clothes look like I walked through fire and there's like, soot or something, all over me… and I remember going to the JavaPit to see Nolan and then everything is blank and I…"

"You were at JavaPit?"

"Yeah, but now I'm sitting in my front yard with burned clothes looking like a survivor of a massive explosion…"

"Jackson, the demon hunters bombed JavaPit tonight. You were there and… well I don't know why you don't remember."

"I feel… I feel like I did last summer when Derek was showing me all the werewolf ropes," Jackson tells her, "he had me sit in a room with wolfsbane for three hours and I got all loopy and I felt like I'd been drugged and right now – I feel like I was wolfsbane'd."

"You think someone slipped you wolfsbane?"

"Wait, Lydia did you say someone bombed JavaPit?"

"Yes," Lydia replies, "we're all at the hospital right now…"

"Oh my god. Oh god, Lydia is Nolan okay? Is he alive is he alright?"

Lydia sighs, "He's fine, Jackson, he had us worried for awhile, but he pulled through and he's fine."

There a moment of silence where Lydia is sure Jackson is just soaking in the fact that Nolan is okay.

"Maybe in the bomb," Jackson finally says, "maybe in the bomb the demon hunters laced it with wolfsbane or something."

"You think the demon hunters are using wolfsbane now?"

"Do you have any ideas? Look, I need to get cleaned up and then I'm coming to the hospital."

"Yeah, okay, I'll see you soon then."

As Lydia hangs up the phone Kelly Hayes slowly walks out of Nolan's room. Lydia opens her mouth to say something, but misses her chance as Kelly speeds down the hall. The red haired girl isn't sure where she is headed but quickly ducks into Nolan's room to tell him that Jackson is fine and on his way.

Kelly continues down the hall until she finds a secluded spot. She withdraws her phone from her pockets and dials a number she had stolen from her son's phone.

It rings only twice and a voice she was slowly becoming familiar with again.

"Hello?" the girl asks confused.

"Annalise, it's mom. It's come to my attention that you and your hunter friends are the reason your brother and I are stuck in the hospital right now and that they have crossed the line of demon hunter into werewolf hunter."

"Mom I–" Annalise begins.

"Don't interrupt me when I am speaking," Kelly hisses, "this is not an informal call. This is not a mother/daughter catch up call. I do not care how you are doing. As of this moment you are no longer my daughter, you are my enemy - more than that every single hunter in this town has become me and my demons' arch nemeses. You have messed with the wrong woman, Annalise, and I want you to know that this attack on Nolan's life means war. He may not have made a decision on what side he wants to be on but I can tell you that after your people tried to  _kill him_ , this decision will be the simplest one he will ever have to make."

"Mommy," Annalise starts, and Kelly can tell the girl is close to tears, "I'm so sorry."

"Apologizes can't change what has been done. It's because of you that this war has begun. Good luck, Annalise, you're going to need it."

\-------

Allison takes the last few brave steps toward the room she knew she didn't belong in. But it was now or never. Breathing deeply, she walks in and leans against the door jam.

All eyes turn to her, and all conversation ceases.

"Allison, I told you she wasn't-" Ron begins, rising from his seat.

"No, Dad. Let her in. I'm good. In fact, we need to have a chat," Camilla stops him, her eyes glaring at her cousin.

"Babe, are you sure...?" Isaac asks, his eyes not leaving Camilla.

Camilla doesn't look at him when she says, "Yes. No more avoiding it. Plus I've got this super cool button to alert the staff if she tries to kill me again."

Allison feels the sting of Camilla's words, and her body tenses.

"Camilla, I..."

"No, not in front of everyone. This is between me and you."

The girl stares at Allison, dissecting her with every second that passes.

Ron clears his throat, "Well, honey, I guess we'll be in the waiting room..."

Within a minute, the group shuffles out of the room, leaving the two brunettes alone.

Allison slowly walks further into the room and takes a seat close to the bed, but not too close. She takes a deep breath and tries to face Camilla's angry stare.

"So, I guess what I want to know is do you know why you did it?" Camilla begins after a pregnant pause.

Allison immediately begins to tear up as she shakes her head.

"All I remember is this unnerving desire for Scott. I can't explain it. It's like all my memories are clouded in this... this heavy feeling. It's like I was me, but I was a puppet and someone was making me do everything. I never wanted to hurt you, Camilla. I never wanted to hurt anyone and I hate myself for it all. If I knew this was going to happen I never would have wanted to be brought back."

Camilla's gaze softens a bit as she takes in what her cousin says.

Licking her lips she responds, "Okay."

"Okay?" Allison whimpers, wiping her eyes.

"Okay," Camilla nods. "You didn't know what you were doing. And yeah, I'm super pissed I might have a scar from you, but it's not your fault. It'll take me a while to fully trust you again, but I'm over it."

Allison stares at her with bewilderment, her voice trying to say something, but only muffled noises come out.

Camilla shrugs and leans back into her bed, "You can tell them all to come back in now. Oh and tell them to get me some fried chicken."

Placing her hands behind her head and closing her eyes, Camilla relaxes. Still shocked, Allison doesn't move. Camilla peeks an eye open.

"I'm serious, Allison. I forgive you, so you need to start forgiving yourself. And get me some chicken."

With that, Allison gets out of her chair in a daze, on a mission for chicken.

\-------

Days later, Camilla swings her backpack over her left shoulder after kissing Isaac goodbye and heading for her locker. It is her first day back at school and already five people have asked what happened to her head.

Her favorite answer was that she fell off a cruise ship. Nobody seemed to catch her  _Bridesmaids_  reference.

She sighs loudly when she sees Lydia and Erica leaning against neighboring lockers, awaiting their friend's arrival.

"Finally, people I can actually stand," she says when the two are in ear shot. Both girls perk up when they spot the brunette.

"Glad to have you back, Camtitties," Erica grins, admiring her new nickname.

"Nice try, but yours will be bigger than mine soon enough, so you just declared war," Camilla waggles her eyebrows as she straightens her black, velvet top,which, in Erica's defense, did show off a decent amount of cleavage.

"Speaking of bigger boobs, Erica, what exactly are you planning on doing now that you know your nurse is a psychotic demon hunter partially responsible for Nolan's near-death-experience?" Lydia questions, tapping a pen against her lips. "Maybe you can go to Deaton since he is great with dogs..."

Erica laughs at Lydia's insult, knowing she doesn't mean anything by it.

"Well I was hoping you could just use your banshee powers to give me a heads up if something weird is going on in there," Erica says back with a smirk.

"I do death, not birth," Lydia reminds her as the three start on their way to class.

\-------

Nolan sits in the back of the library, the sun falling through the wall of windows. It's warm here and Nolan enjoys it and having just looked death in the face and made it back to the world of the living he figures he deserves to enjoy the warmth of the sun.

"You almost died," Jackson says as he sits down at the table Nolan sits at.

The boy sighs and looks over at the werewolf, "Yeah. I almost died."

"I'm glad that you didn't."

"I… Jackson, you… you can't just – I mean we can't. I am a wreck, most of the time, I am a total wreck. I'm emotional and I say the wrong thing and I have abandonment issues and daddy issues and I'm all scary and damaged and five days ago I almost got blown up because of who I am and… I'm all the wrong things, Jackson."

"I miss you," Jackson says smoothly, "I miss kissing you and I just… I miss us. I miss us having sex because that was – it was wowing. And I know that that's shallow and inappropriate, but it's one of about a million things that I miss about you. I miss your smile and your scent and the way you took my coffee order. I miss  _everything_  about you, Nolan."

"I miss you too, Jackson. I do, but I… we can't just pick up where we left off. There's too much water under the thing or whatever. I almost died. I could be dead right now, but I'm not and me being alive has made me realize that – my heart feels like someone is squeezing it whenever I look at you. You give me butterflies. You're one of the few things that makes me  _feel_ alive."

"Nolan, I –"

"You're sorry. I know that and I'm going to forgive you and I'm going to do that because I love you – dammit," the boy curses, he hadn't wanted to say those words to Jackson, but as per usual he was saying the wrong thing.

"You love me."

"I just want to take things slow. I need a little time."

Jackson smiles, "I can give you time."

"Good," Nolan says, "good, because you make me feel like I have never felt before and since you're a werewolf and I'm a demon I figure we go together like chocolate and peanut butter."

"So we're going slow."

"We are going slow."

\-------

Ms. Palmer finishes her instructions for her drama class and turns to Camilla and Nolan.

"Since you two probably aren't up for some improv today, you two can just go hang out in the library or something. Just don't do drugs or anything please," the teacher jokes, handing them a pass to the library.

"Oh, please, Ms. Palmer, we're already on drugs courtesy of the hospital," Camilla says as she grabs her bag and follows Nolan out of the room.

"I didn't hear that!" the woman calls after them, closing the door after they exit.

The two friends walk in silence, but a comfortable one.

Once they reach the library, both head to the same table without agreeing on which one to go to.

"So how did you get back?" Camilla jumps right into the long-awaited conversation, pulling out a bag of pretzels.

Nolan shakes his head, "She tried taking me, but since I'm some super cool half demon, she couldn't. I'm just glad you got back before she could turn around and take you instead."

Camilla nods, thankful for that, too.

Nolan sighs loudly and looks at Camilla.

"I'm scared..." he reveals, his mouth twitching.

"Why?" Camilla asks, slowly chewing on a pretzel.

Nolan looks around nervously, "Something bad is about to happen, Camilla."

Laughing sarcastically, the girl replies, "What else is new?"

"No, I'm serious. Before the whole explosion happened, it was like an agreement to disagree between the demons and the hunters but now... It's all changed. People are mad and they're not going to let it go. Especially since I'm involved..."

"Nolan what are you saying?" Camilla asks seriously.

"I'm saying that hell is coming. And it's coming for blood."

\-------

 


	34. Here's To Future Days (4x22)

Camilla frowns, slamming her cupboard doors shut.

"Susan?" she calls out to the woman who is currently folding laundry in the living room. "Do we have any Hostess Cupcakes left?"

The woman scurries into the kitchen, happy to help Camilla, a fresh smile on her face.

"I packed the last one in your dad's lunch this morning, sweetie, I'm sorry. But I did make some of those Reese's Peanut Butter bars you like!" Susan answers in a chirpy voice, moving over to the fridge where the bars were located. Camilla's eyes glaze over as she watches Susan pull the pan out of the fridge.

"God, I love you," Camilla breathes out, her mouth watering as she eyes the knife gliding through the soft bars. Susan is quick to slice a few rows and get two bars on a napkin for Camilla. Her eyes shine as she hands them over to Camilla.

The brunette shoves one into her mouth, her eyes shutting and a moan escaping her throat, a result of the delicious taste.

"You are a saint, Susan," Camilla mumbles, her mouth full of chocolate and peanut butter.

"Aw, I just love to make you all happy. It's the least I can do," Susan replies sweetly.

Camilla is about to respond, her mouth still full, when a voice from the living room interrupts her.

"Babe, we're here!" Isaac calls out.

"Isaac!" Susan cheers, "We're in the kitchen!"

Camilla smiles, shaking her head at Susan's excitability. Within seconds Isaac enters the room, with Scott on his heels.

"Hey babe," Isaac greets Camilla. Turning to Susan, he says, "And hello, Mrs. Argent. How are you today?"

Susan scoffs in a playful manner, rolling her eyes at Isaac.

"Isaac, I've told you so many times to call me Susan! And I am just fine today. I actually just cut up a few of the Reese's bars Camilla worships, would you boys like a couple?"

Both Scott and Isaac nod hungrily, moving further into the kitchen. As Isaac passes Camilla on his way to grab a treat, he kisses her on the cheek and squeezes her butt, making her squeak.

"You okay, sweetie?" Susan wonders, not bothering to look up and see Camilla's blushing face.

Chewing her food and swallowing, Camilla responds, "Yeah. These are just so good."

Susan finally looks up and smiles brightly as she hands Scott and Isaac their own bars.

"Thank you, dear. Enjoy, guys. There's plenty more!" she mentions to the group as she heads back into the living room.

"Thank you!" Scott and Isaac say in unison, both of their mouths full.

The three chew for a few moments, savoring the taste of the bars. During that silence, Allison slides into the kitchen, a shy smile on her face.

"Hey guys. How was practice?" she asks the boys, helping herself to one of the bars.

Isaac shrugs, still chewing.

"It was fine," Scott answers in a clipped tone, not bothering to make eye contact with the girl he once loved.

Feeling his cold shoulder, Allison casts her eyes down to the floor, focusing on her lavender-colored shoes instead of Scott's face. It hurt her to see him so dismissive.

"Well, we should probably head out," Camilla says suddenly, rubbing her hands together to get rid of any crumbs. "You guys ready?"

The two boys nod, Isaac grabbing another bar as they move back towards the living room.

"Where are you guys going?" Allison asks curiously, picking at her bar rather than eating it.

"Isaac's place. We have to talk about the demon thing," Camilla says, giving a brief overview.

Allison once again glances down, knowing she wasn't invited. Feeling a little guilty, Camilla sighs.

"When I get back do you wanna help me with my AP Bio homework? You were always so much better at science than me..." Camilla offers.

Allison brightens up.

"Sure!" she replies, smiling. "Oh and Scott... Can I talk to you for a sec?"

Scott looks over at Isaac and Camilla who shrug and head out of the kitchen.

"What's up, Allison?" he asks, still not really able to look the girl in the eye, his own twitching around the kitchen, taking in all of the bright colors.

"I was just, um... I know things have been a little weird ever since the whole... bond breaking thing. But I want you to know that I really hope you give me a second chance. Or I guess this would be a third chance..." Allison mumbles, stammering. "Anyways, I just mean, I miss you Scott. And don't worry I won't go all crazy again. I just want to try and get back to normal. You brought me back for a reason right?"

Scott sighs, feeling pained. Of course he brought her back because he missed her. But things... weren't like he thought.

"Yeah, Allison. I don't regret bringing you back..." he mutters slowly.

"Good. I'm glad. I just want to... I don't know, get back to where we were? Friends, I mean. Not this whole awkward thing..."

Scott relaxes a little, feeling guilty for being so dismissive.

"So, anyways, do you want to go get coffee or dinner sometime? When you're free, of course, I know you're busy with lacrosse," Allison asks, hopeful.

"Yeah, I'll try and make time. I just don't know how soon, but..."

Allison nods, tucking a strand of hair behinf her ear.

"Okay, just text me or something. I'll be around."

Scott nods and inches towards the door, "See ya, Allison."

"Bye," she calls after him quietly, her voice cracking.

She wonders then if she'll ever feel happy again.

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Nolan and Jackson are the last people to come into the loft, joining their friends for the pack meeting. As they enter, Nolan quickly finds a seat beside Camilla and Jackson stands beside Scott, crossing his arms across his chest just like the alpha.

"So hell is coming," Stiles says with a smirk, "hopefully they're bringing the fondue…"

Lydia shakes her head, "This isn't really funny, Stiles."

"Life's what you make it," the boy retorts, "so instead of looking at all the dark 'n' scary, I'm gonna find the funny. It's optimism… something this group could use a healthy dose of."

"Look, the demon hunters aren't sticking to their area of expertise," Jackson says, "they're coming for anyone. Those Molotov cocktails they bombed JavaPit with were laced with wolfsbane. They know Nolan has friends who are wolves and if they wanna take him out they're willing to take us out too."

"So what then?" Erica asks. "Should we just go in all sharp teeth and claws and rip some demon hunters' faces off?"

"You're not doing any face ripping off like this," Derek says, motioning to her stomach.

"I'm pregnant, Derek, not sick. I can do just as much face ripping as the rest of the boys," the blonde girl snaps.

"We can't just go in ready to fight," Scott tells them, "I'd say it's a good guess that we're outnumbered."

"Not if Nolan joins forces with his mother," Isaac mentions, "there are demons all over town. If we teamed up with them we wouldn't be the outnumbered ones, the hunters would be. It kinda seems like a cut and dry solution to me…"

"It's not though," Camilla says, "I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't want to put Nolan into a position like that. I mean, yeah the hunters nearly blew him up, but he's still got family on that side. He's between a rock and a hard place."

"Thank you," Nolan says to the girl, "but… okay, I don't know how I know this… but something is going to happen. Hell is coming, just like Stiles said, and I think that maybe I need to pick a side, and my gut is telling me to pick my mom's side. She hasn't tried to explode me – and my sister has."

Camilla nods her dark head, "Okay, so then maybe you don't have to make a choice. Maybe we attack first. I mean this pack has the one thing that the demons and the demon hunters have in common – you. Maybe we can use that fact to our advantage."

"If you're thinking what I think you're thinking, then I'm down completely."

"Okay, wait," Lydia starts, "what just happened?"

"I think Nolan and Camilla just had a whole conversation telepathically," Erica replies.

"I think they just made a plan," Scott says with a smile.

\-------

Stiles walks into his house and drops his backpack to the floor.

"Father," the boy shouts as he walks toward the dining room, "I have returned!"

As Stiles' sneakers squeak on the floor all the way to the dining room the boy think hard about what he wants to make himself for dinner – settling on a grilled cheese when he enters and sees his father sitting at the dining table with a small stack of papers in front of him and a pen in his hand.

"What's the what?" Stiles asks, confused.

The boy's father looks up at him and smiles softly, "Don't freak out," he says, "but I… I just did something."

"Obviously. What though?"

The man sets down his pen, "I just finished the paperwork for my resignation from the Sheriff's seat."

"You WHAT?" Stiles barks.

"Okay," Melissa says smoothly as she enters the room with a bottle of wine and two glasses in her hands, "looks like maybe we shouldn't be celebrating."

"Maybe, not… I think my son may be having a stroke…"

"Dad you can't resign. You can't. Donna Lamb is going to turn the department into a freakin' clown car!"

Stiles' dad stands and walks over to his son, putting his hands on the boy's shoulders he says, "Look, I know this is a lot, but…"

"But nothing! This is craziness. This is madness. This is Eichen House worthy insanity! You were our in, dad. You were on the force and you knew about the supernatural world and you could help us keep things under control while keeping them quiet! And now what? This doesn't just affect you."

"Stiles," Melissa begins…

"Look, Melissa, you're great and all and I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but butt out."

"Stiles!" the boy's father hisses.

"I'm sorry, but dad, you gotta understand where I'm coming from!"

"I think I understand where you're going – which is to your room. And don't bother coming out until you can muster some respect for your elders."

"But, dad…"

"Go, Stiles."

Sourly, the boy turns on his heel and walks out of the room, his heart sinking more and more with each step.

\-------

Sipping her third coffee of the day, Ms. Palmer sits on top of her desk, which was surprisingly comfortable.

"Dana, I really liked your character's passion. It was obvious that she was a little deranged, but what woman wouldn't be after finding out her husband was sleeping with her sister and her mother? Great job, both of you," the teacher comments, nodding her head at the two students who performed their couple's scene.

"Next up are Camilla and Jake. You guys had the forbidden love scene, if I'm correct?" Ms. Palmer calls out, eyeing her favorite brunette student. Not that she would admit it to anyone.

"Yes ma'am," Camilla confirms, standing up from her desk and heading towards the front with her partner, Jake. The lesson of the week was to pair with someone who you weren't too familiar with to perform a scene for couples.

"So, a little insight," Jake starts, "I am Camilla's teacher, and that makes her my student, obviously, so our relationship is off limits. A forbidden love, if you must."

Nodding at each other, Camilla and Jake begin.

Five minutes later, Camilla was in Jake's arms laughing as their scene comes to an end.

"Very romantic and... passionate," Ms. Palmer giggles. "Hopefully this isn't based off true events. But besides that, great job guys. Camilla, you are a very convincing person, I must be careful of that."

Camilla shrugs and heads back to her seat with a guilty smile.

"Yeah, I agree. Poor Jake got taken advantage of," Mr. Moore calls from the door, startling everyone. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. I just heard a student begging a teacher and thought I should investigate. I'll warn the staff, Camilla."

"Don't bother, you were probably her inspiration," Dana calls from the back of the room, causing a chuckle from everyone.

"Easy now," Ms. Palmer warns playfully. "We have fun here in Drama but we have to be careful not to cross any lines."

Dana holds her hands up in surrender, still smiling.

"I guess I'll be going now," Mr. Moore shakes his head. "Watch out for Camilla, Jake."

The class laughs again as the man begins to leave, but his wink at Ms. Palmer isn't as discreet as he thinks it is.

"Looks like  _you_  need to watch out for  _him_  Palmer," Jake warns when the man is gone.

The woman blushes, "Okay! Enough of all that. Good scene. Isaac and Reina are next. Pregnancy scene, go!"

The two make their way to the front of the room and Camilla crosses her arms, amused.

Lydia leans over to Erica and whispers, "Hey, this is like, your life story."

Erica cough-laughs and whacks Lydia lightly.

Up at the front, Isaac sits on a chair, pretending to read a newspaper.

As the scene unfolds, Reina comes in crying, revealing the news that she is pregnant, even though the couple was told they could not conceive.

Jumping up from his seat, Isaac embraces his stage wife and twirls her around. After he sets her down, the two lean in to fake a kiss, but Reina shocks everyone by planting a real one on Isaac's puckered lips, grabbing the strings on his jacket and pulling him close.

Camilla's eyes widen as she watches Isaac tens up and pull away quickly. She flicks her tongue in her mouth.

Isaac coughs and backs away, his face red. He takes a chance and glances at Camilla, who glares back.

"Well, an unexpected ending, but I respect your commitment to the scene, Reina. Nice job guys," Ms. Palmer says quickly, trying to ease the tension.

"Yeah but next time, make sure the guy you're kissing doesn't have a girlfriend," Camilla growls, folding her hands and smiling the most fake, angry smile at the girl.

Reina fake smiles back as she heads to her seat, "No harm in a little love scene, calm down."

Camilla fake laughs and smacks her lips, not bothering to respond, knowing a curse word is bound to escape.

As Isaac passes his girlfriend he squeezes her arm and whispers to her.

"I had no idea she was gonna do that, I swear."

The brunette doesn't respond, keeping her eyes pointed directly in front of her.

"I've never liked that girl," Camilla mutters to Nolan, who is sitting beside her.

Nolan casually glances back at the girl, eyeing her carefully.

"Yeah, well she's possessed," he whispers back. As if she heard him, Reina's eyes dart right to Nolan and she smirks, her eyes shining. Nolan whips his head forward, embarrassed. Before he even has time to calm down, he hears a voice that makes his insides boil.

"Hello, hello!" a sweet voice calls from the door. "Ms. Palmer, I hope you're not too busy, I need to borrow a student for like, two seconds..."

Ms. Palmer shakes her head as she swallows a mouthful of coffee, "Go ahead. We just finished our last scene for the day."

"Great! Nolan, can you step out in the hall with me?"

Clenching his teeth, he stands up and stalks out the door.

"What the hell do you want, Annalise?" he says immediately as he gets into the hallway.

"Nolan, we need to talk. I know you won't see me outside of school, so this was my only shot..."

"Yeah, and do you know why I won't see you outside of school?" he growls at her. "Because last time I did, you tried to fucking kill me!"

"Nolan!" she whisper-shouts. "Calm down, please. That wasn't me, I didn't-"

"Yeah, well it was your band of hoodlums and if you were so against it, you wouldn't be running around with them anymore, but yet, you still are."

"Nolan, it's more complicated than that. I can't just-"

"Stop," he interrupts her. "I honestly do not care. For the life of me, I cannot find a shred of anything in me that has any sympathy for you. Not a goddamn shred." He emphasizes his last words, staring Annalise down.

She gulps, unsure of how to respond. In a nervous fit, she tugs at her navy blue pencil skirt, focusing her breathing as she does so.

"If that's all, I'll be going," Nolan says crossly, turning on his heel before his sister can respond.

The door to the room slams shut and Annalise is left fidgeting in her heels, her mind full of worry.

\-------

"Uhhhhhhhhh," Erica groans as she slugs into the Hale house later that day. "My feet are killing me."

Derek tries to hide an amused smile and fails, watching from the island in the kitchen as she slumps onto their couch.

He gets up from his seat and moves towards her. She leans her head back, her blonde hair falling over her face as she does. Closing her eyes, she feels the couch sink down farther as Derek sits beside her.

Without warning, Derek lifts her legs, turning her whole body so that she lays across the couch, her legs and feet in his lap.

"A little heads up, Hale?" she huffs, rubbing her temples.

"Sorry, babe," he responds casually. She exhales loudly and lays her head back again.

Her eyes shut once more, it only takes a few seconds before she feels tugs at her feet. Opening one eye to peek, she watches as Derek unties her Converse and pulls each one off her sore feet.

"Not that I don't appreciate the help, but I'm barely showing, I am perfectly capable of taking off my own shoes," she murmurs, a hint of humor in her voice.

"I know," Derek says as he looks over at her. "But I figured I might as well get used to it now. You get quite demanding when incapacitated."

"I do not!" Erica pouts, crossing her arms over her chest and puffing out her bottom lip.

"Oh Lord, how are we going to have a baby if you still act like one?" Derek teases with a smirk, watching as a smile tugs at Erica's lips.

"Ha ha," she responds, sticking her tongue out. "The baby isn't here yet, so let me get it all out of my system."

Derek purses his lips in consideration.

"Fair enough," he replies. Erica lays still for another moment, but soon she swings her legs back over the couch and turns her body, moving to cuddle up against Derek. Placing his arm around his girlfriend, he breathes in her familiar vanilla scent.

"I just want it to be December already so I can be done with high school," she mumbles into Derek's black shirt.

"Why don't you just quit now?" Derek frowns. "It's not like you need a high school diploma. We have everything we need."

Erica lifts her head and looks at Derek, "I know. But I want to get it. I haven't really dont anything great in my life on my own, so I at least want to get through high school. I think my parents would want me to do that."

Derek softens at the mention of Erica's parents. Though she doesn't mention them much, he knows how much their deaths hurt her. And now, with the pregnancy, she was even more sensitive.

"Hey, you've got our baby growing inside of you. That's pretty great if you ask me," he reminds her, kissing the top of her head.

Erica sighs and leans back into him.

"I guess you're right." After a moment, she adds, "I wish they could be here to meet the baby."

"Me too, babe," Derek replies sincerely. "I wish there were a lot of people here for this. But the baby's got me and you, Camilla, Isaac, Lydia, and everyone else. It will be the most loved baby on the earth. You know Camilla is going to spoil her."

"Her?" Erica smirks. "A girl, you think?"

Derek lifts his shoulders, "I don't know. I wouldn't mind a girl."

"I just want to know if our baby will be... special, or not," Erica reveals. "I hope Deaton can give us some insight."

"There's a great chance he or she will be," Derek murmurs. "But either way, you and I will love them with everything we have, and that's all that matters. Werewolf or not."

Erica chuckles and holds Derek tighter.

"Who would have ever thought that Derek Hale could have a sweet side?" she says softly, sleep in her voice.

"Who would have ever thought that Erica Reyes would fall for Derek Hale?" he responds.

"Well who would have ever thought that Derek Hale would completely and totally fall head over heels for Erica Reyes?" she teases.

Derek laughs and smiles, relaxing into the comfortable couch.

A few moments of silence pass by before Erica adds, "Who would have ever thought that we would be having a baby?"

Derek smiles softly and moves a hand to tilt Erica's face to look up at him.

"It certainly wasn't expected but I couldn't be happier," he tells her before leaning in to kiss her sweetly.

\-------

"You see, you have to incorporate the licking throughout the whole thing. It's not just a lick lick suck suck," Camilla shares with Nolan, a cherry in her mouth for demonstration.

The auburn-haired boy watches intently, blushing a little as he watches his friend's tongue movements.

"I don't really need you to be giving me any tips. I've never gotten a complaint. But thanks for the public crash course in perfect blow-js. Now can we come up with the killer plan everyone is exepcting?!" Nolan chuckles, leaning back in the plastic booth seat, his hands finding themselves behind his head.

Camilla bites the cherry off the stem and chews it, a smile on her lips as she does.

"Yeah, I guess we should give the oral tips a rest. Besides, cherries are a terrible example," she frowns. "I should've got a banana split instead of a chocolate shake."

Nolan laughs out loud, "Yeah and then more people would be staring at you. You've already got eyes on you as it is." He gestures to a group of guys sitting at the diner counter, all dimples and smiles in Camilla's direction.

Rolling her eyes, Camilla notices the group and turns back to Nolan.

Changing the subject, Camilla's eyes light up as she says, "You know what I can do though, I can teach you how to tie a cherry stem! That will help with blowies and kissing!"

Nolan laughs once again, watching as his brunette friend pops her once-abandoned stem into her mouth. He can see movement from behind her closed lips, and after mere seconds, Camilla pulls out a perfectly tied knot.

"Impressive," he nods at her. The girl does a small seated bow and tosses the knotted stem on the table. "I think your new boyfriends are impressed too."

The two look over at the group of guys who, sure enough, were raising their eyebrows and nudging each other.

"Isaac would be so pissed if he saw this. I almost wish he could, considering he let that harlot tongue him in class today," she mutters, her face turning as red as her crop top.

"Camilla, it was hardly a peck," Nolan chastises her with a giggle.

"Still! Stop defending her," she whines, her mouth turning down in the corners.

The bell latched onto the door begins to ring, and Camilla's curious eyes roam to see the diner's newest patrons. Her eyes light up when she recognizes the couple.

"Ms. Palmer, hey!" she calls out, waving her hand at the woman. Her red head whips in their direction and she smiles. Tugging Mr. Moore, the man she came in with, behind her, she walks over to Camilla and Nolan.

"Hey guys, fancy meeting you here," she says, still holding the PE teacher's hand.

"A nice surprise, definitely," Nolan tells her politely.

"So you guys are, like, dating now?" Camilla waggles her eyebrows knowingly.

"Well, uh..." Ms. Palmer begins, removing her hand from Mr. Moore's. The man laughs, and grabs her hand again.

Answering for her, he says smoothly, "Yes, we are. Megan is still a little... bewildered by it."

"Well congrats, you caught yourself a good woman," Camilla says, taking a bite of her chocolate shake.

Both of them chuckle, looking at each other and smiling. It was obvious they wanted to be together.

"Yeah, so watch out for the janitor's closets," Mr. Moore warns jokingly, knowing the Camilla and Nolan could appreciate his humor.

"Hey, the one on the second floor is a great spot. Very sturdy places in there," Camilla nods. It's hard to tell if she's serious or joking.

"Well, we'll let you two get back to your food. This conversation is going down a route that teachers and students shouldn't be having!" Ms. Palmer says, both she and her boyfriend moving away from the table. "Nice to see you guys."

"Back at ya! PS I want to be a bridesmaid at the wedding!" Camilla calls after them.

Nolan shakes his head and contemplates popping another fry into his mouth, but deciding against it. They are probably cold by now.

"You are relentless, Camilla," he says with a laugh. "I don't think a day has gone by where you haven't talked about sex or anything related to it."

The brunette shrugs whilst batting her eyelashes.

"What do you say we head back to my place and actually try to form a plan?" Nolan suggests, pushing his plate of half-eaten fries away from him.

"Sounds good to me. I have a feeling those fellas are itching to talk to me and I'm so not in the mood."

Nolan's eyes slide over to the group, "They are looking quite antsy. Let's get outta here."

The two slide out of the booth, and Nolan shrugs his brown leather jacket on. Camilla came without one, so her tanned skin is available for all to see, courtesy of her crop top. Camilla grabs her soda, which she plans on finishing in the car and they are ready to go.

Once they are feet away from the door, Camilla's eyes narrow as she spots a face she really doesn't want to be seeing. And she was pretty sure Nolan wouldn't be too happy either.

"Um, Nolan. Your sister's henchwoman is about to walk in with that cop Erica dated for like two seconds," she says in a monotone voice, stopping the boy in his tracks.

"Fuck," he mutters under his breath as his eyes spot Malia and Ben walking into the diner, the bell above the door tingling once again.

"Just act normal and walk by them. We'll get them later," Camilla ushers him towards the door, feeling his reluctance.

Nolan inches forward, Camilla right at his side. Lucky for him, he was on the side that wouldn't have to walk next to the couple as they pass by.

Nolan holds his breath as they come upon his sister's fellow hunter and her boyfriend, or whatever he is. Ready for a quick exit, Nolan scurries to reach the door.

What he thinks will be a smooth leave, turns out to be loud one, because the next thing he knows, Camilla's pop is spilled all over Malia, the nurse/demon hunter's mouth spread open in a shocked O.

"Omygosh I'm so sorry!" Camilla fakes sympathy. "I tripped over that rug, I... Omygosh."

Malia holds her hands up, feeling the sticky pop slide down her body.

"I'd offer to get you napkins, but, you know, I don't really want to," Camilla says, starting off nice and ending with a death stare.

"Excuse me?" Malia sputters. "You just-"

"Yeah, I know. Silly me. It could be worse though! I mean at least it's not a Molotov cocktail," the brunette snaps, her voice cold and hard.

Malia's eyes widen and her mouth drops open, but no words come out.

"Let's go Nolan," Camilla shrugs, grabbing her friends arm and pulling him out the door.

\-------

Allison stifles a sneeze as she places dusty picture frames into a medium-sized box. She had been planning on cleaning them, but never got around to it.

All around her, her room lies in ruins. Nearly everything she owned is packed into boxes, some neat and some messy.

She takes a deep breath, hoping to be out of the room as quick as possible.

She places the last frame into the box and reaches across the cluttered area for the packing tape.

Ripping a clear, long piece off, she secures the box shut and pushes it aside. Nearly done.

Before she can start on another box, she hears a light knock at the door.

"Um, come in," she mumbles, her face flushing.

Ron's head pops in, as he finds he is unable to push the door open all the way due to an assortment of boxes blocking the door's pathway.

"Hey, what's going on?" he asks, his eyes scanning the parts of the room he can see from his hindered view.

"I, um, well, I..." Allison stutters, standing up from the floor and deliberately making her way through the obstacle course that is her bedroom floor to clear the doorway.

Once the boxes are pushed away, Ron moves into the room, taking it all in.

"Allison, what's going on?" he asks quietly.

Biting her lip, the girl cannot meet her uncle's eyes.

"I just, I think I need to move out."

Ron stares blankly at her, processing the news.

"Before you stop me, my dad left me everything when he... saved me, I guess. So I have the money for my own apartment. I think it would be good for me. These last few months have been, well you know. I just need a fresh start. By myself," she tries to explain, stumbling over her words.

Ron nods his head slowly, taking deep breaths.

"Well, if it's really what you want to do..." he trails off.

"It is. I need to get to know myself before anyone else can even try and come back into my life."

"I don't want you to think we don't want you here Allison. You know you always have a place here."

Allison nods, meeting Ron's gaze.

"Yeah, it's not anything you guys did. It's all me. I just think it's for the best..."

Ron takes one more deep inhale and exhale and claps his hands together.

"Well, looks like you've got a great start, but Uncle Ron is here to help. If you want me to, that is."

Smiling, Allison feels relief.

"I'd love that," she says, handing him the packing tape.

\-------

Scott sits at the kitchen island, a plate of ravioli in front of him. He stabs on with a fork numbly and looks down at Maximus, the dog's big brown eyes in full puppy-pout, hoping desperately that the boy would throw him a bone – or in this case, a meat stuffed pasta shell.

The door in the laundry room opens and shuts and Scott can hear his mother tossing her keys into her purse and then hanging it up on the hook. She sighs and kicks off her Asics and then pads into the kitchen where she finds her son and dog.

"What's cookin' good lookin'?" the nurse asks as she goes to the fridge to retrieve bottled water.

Scott sighs and looks at his mother, "Can I ask you sort of an awkward question?"

"Sweetie, if you're looking for the sex talk you've come far too late. I know you've already been sexually active."

Scott's eyes widen, "Oh god. No, no – I didn't want to talk to you about…  _come on, mom_!"

Melissa laughs, "See now your question won't be so awkward. Go ahead and hit me, honey."

"Are you and Stiles' dad, like, you guys are – you know… right? I mean, you guys are having a relationship. I'm not jumping to conclusions with that statement am I?"

Melissa comes and sits down beside her son, "You wouldn't be wrong with that statement, no."

"So you two are…"

"We are."

A sigh falls from Scott's lips, "Alright. Cool beans."

"You aren't upset are you? Because, if this makes you uncomfortable I'll end things with John, I will. You come first before anyone."

"You'd dump your boyfriend for me?"

"Of course," Melissa tells him, "you're my son, Scott. If something were making you unhappy and there was a way for me to relieve that unhappiness then I would do it without a second thought."

"Well, I want you to be happy mom. And if Stiles' dad makes you happy, then I give you my blessing. You deserve to be happy."

Melissa wraps her arms around the boy and squeezes him, "You may be a werewolf, but sometimes you're just a little puppy."

Scott hugs his mother back, "I love you, okay?"

"Love you too," the woman laughs, "now would you throw Maxi some of that ravioli? I'm sick of him looking at us."

\-------

On Boucher Point, Stiles and Lydia sit inside the Jeep, music playing quietly over them.

"Do you want to at least vent?" Lydia asks.

Stiles shakes his head, his hands gripping the steering wheel, "There's nothing to vent… my dad made a decision. His decision has been made. It's the dumbest decision of his generation, but it's his decision, ya know? It doesn't matter what I think."

"It sort of does, you are after all his child."

"Lydia, come on."

"All that I am saying is that you are allowed to be upset. What you think  _does_  matter and you should get it out. There's no reason to hold it in."

"Fine," Stiles sighs, "I am disappointed beyond belief. My dad being sheriff was like… the coolest thing ever in my life. I was always so proud that my own freakin' dad was the sheriff of the whole city. Like how amazing is that? He has reign over the whole town. He called the shots. He was the man in charge… and now? He's just throwing it all away. I mean he was in a coma for two months, wouldn't missing out on life like that make you want to get back to basics? Wouldn't you want to go back?"

"Maybe it made him realize all that he was missing."

"Whaddya mean?"

"I mean, maybe he woke up and he  _woke_  up. Maybe he saw the world around him for the first time in a long time and realized that he wanted to soak it all in. He wanted to take the bull by the horns and live his life, not behind the sheriff's desk."

"But he's gonna leave Beacon Hills in shambles. Lamb is the most incompetent dimwit of all time. She's going to run this place into the ground! Did you know there's no investigation into the explosion at JavaPit? They're not even putting into the books as like a gas leak or something, the department is just ignoring it. Six people died and Donna is just brushing it under the rug… honestly, all this makes me want to be a cop even more."

"You want to be a cop?" Lydia asks.

"Of course I do," Stiles replies, "I have since I was eight. I wanted to follow in my dad's footprints. I wanted to go to college and then to the academy and then come back here and work for him. The Stilinskis: Making Beacon Hills Safer, One Arrest at a Time."

"Stiles, that's amazing," Lydia says with a smile, "you would make an incredible policeman… and you know, I've always thought a man in uniform is very, very sexy."

The boy smiles and then his eyes fall from Lydia's and to her hands, "Do you… god, do you think we're still going to be together?"

"What?"

"Like, after we graduate and go off to college… do you think we're still going to be us, together?"

Lydia stares at him dumbfounded, "I hadn't ever thought about it."

"You hadn't?"

"Not because I don't want a future with you," Lydia says quickly, "but because… I don't know… I didn't want to think about it. I didn't want to think about us ending."

"Really?"

"Stiles you make me feel… you make me feel like I'm the only girl that matters. You make me feel smart. You made me realize that I was worth something, that I was more than just a pretty face meant to be a boy's trophy. You made me realize that me being me was better than anything I could pretend to be."

"Well, I love you Lydia."

"And I love you. I love you so, so much."

The two lean forward and share a soft, familiar kiss.

"Can we not think about it? Can we just enjoy what we have now, for however long we're going to have it?" Lydia asks, her eyes still shut from the kiss.

Stiles brushes a piece of strawberry blonde hair out of the girl's perfect face, "I'd like that."

The two kiss again and then Lydia maneuvers herself into the crook of Stiles' arm. The two sit like that for some time, not speaking, not kissing, just being with each other, looking at the big moon and the bright stars.

\-------

Jackson walks up Nolan's front steps and to the front door and rings the doorbell. He waits for only a few seconds before Marcel appears on the other side. The man slowly pulls the wooden door open and smiles crookedly at the werewolf.

"Uh, Nolan isn't home, Jackson," the professor tells him, "I can tell him you stopped by, if you'd like."

"I'm actually here to see Kelly, sir," Jackson replies respectfully, "is she around?"

Marcel steps out of the way, allowing Jackson entrance, and then says, "She's upstairs in the office."

Jackson nods politely and then heads up the stairs. Nolan's dog Jane Fonda perks up as he reaches the second floor, and upon seeing who it is the golden retriever slowly drops her head back down on the hardwood floor.

In no time at all Jackson is knocking on the office door. He hears a voice telling him to come in and he does as he is instructed and enters.

The werewolf sees Kelly sitting at her desk typing away on her computer. He waits a minute before she swivels around in her chair and faces him; she raises an eyebrow and then very flatly asks, "Well?"

"The only reason I'm telling you this," Jackson begins, "is because I promised you that I would keep Nolan safe. That's the only reason, are we clear? I'm not teaming up with the demons, I'm not pro-demon. I'm pro-Nolan, got it?"

"Yes. You want nothing to do with my business but you love my son. I got it. Tell me what you know."

Jackson sighs, "The Pack is planning something. They want to be like the perfect catalyst for this war. They want to get the demons and the demon hunters all together and then let the pieces fall where they may. That's all I've got."

Kelly nods, "Thank you Jackson, you've been a big help."

\-------


	35. Into the Fire (4x23)

Camilla shifts her car into park, afterwards slapping her palms down onto her thighs.

"Well that was fun!" she says with a bright smile, recalling Malia's face as Camilla's Diet Coke slid down her slim body.

Nolan shakes his head, a smile tugging at his lips.

"You're ruthless," he says to Camilla with a laugh. "But I love it."

The brunette shrugs in fake modesty, proud of her actions. Nolan sighs after a moment.

"I just wish we could figure this whole shit show out…" he says somberly. "It's making life suck."

Camilla nods sympathetically, understanding Nolan's gloominess.

"You know, if I had it my way, I would end things tomorrow. After the fucking lacrosse game for all I care. It's my last damn homecoming, and even though it's lame as shit I want to be able to enjoy it. And get super wasted afterwards," Nolan tells her, his eyes staring out the windshield into the black night, barely illuminated by the streetlamps.

Camilla's mind begins churning, and silence envelops the two for a moment.

"Nolan, you're a genius," she exclaims suddenly. She turns to him, her thousand-watt smile back on her face.

Looking at her quizzically, he asks, "And how is that?"

"The lacrosse game!" she shouts, reaching across the middle console to grab Nolan and shake him for emphasis. "We said we want to bring them together, and since it's the homecoming game, win or lose, everyone is going to want to get wasted right after the game. The place will be deserted within a half hour, tops."

Nolan tries to put it all together as Camilla watches, her hands still grasping the boy's shoulders, holding onto his shirt.

"Nolan! Think about it! Open field, nobody around… the perfect place for a fight. We tell both sides that you want to join them, and tell them to meet you there, and both will show up and then it'll go from there…" The girl looks at her friend with hope, her eyes shining.

Nolan licks his lips quickly, nodding his head in thought. After a moment, he responds.

"Why the hell not? I'm not waiting for them to get the jump on me. This is going to turn into a fight no matter what, so why not have it be in our control?"

"Yesssss!" Camilla yells, shaking Nolan once again, making him laugh.

"I never thought a person could get this excited over bloodshed," Nolan comments after Camilla finishes ravaging his body.

The brunette turns back into her own seat and grabs her cell phone which had been resting in a cup holder.

"Now the next step is telling everyone and getting both the hunters and the demons to show up…" Camilla mentions, gesturing for Nolan to get his own phone out. The auburn-haired boy fumbles to pull it out of his pocket at takes a deep breath.

Glancing down briefly at his phone, he smiles at the picture of him and his grandma he had set as his wallpaper, longing for a time when he was a kid with no worries. Certainly no battles between demons and demon hunters to keep him up at night.

Camilla notices the picture too, smiling as well.

"Wow, I guess you really are a half demon after all," she jokes, taking in Nolan's facial expression, which was quite cute yet menacing at the same time. "It looks like you have blood all over your mouth."

"It was berry juice," the boy pouts, looking down at the picture once again, seeing himself as a little boy held up in his grandmother's arms. He did have to admit he looked like quite the demon.

The two let a silence settle in the car before Camilla speaks up.

"You ready for this, Hayes?"

Unlocking his phone, he finds his sister's number, his finger hovering over the "Call" button.

"Fingers crossed," he mutters, hitting the button simultaneously.

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

"I just feel like such a lame ass loser," Nolan says to Camilla as he grabs a fruit cup and places it on his tray. "Jackson and I are supposed to be taking things slowly and then he asks me to wear his jersey and it's just… I'm having a hard time… how do you say no to him?"

"You gotta stop acting like you two aren't riding in the Tunnel of Love," Camilla replies as the pair begin to make their way to their friends at the lunch table, "it's obvious you are and to be honest it's getting annoying. The longing stares and the whispers, it's like a Victorian romance novel and it's sickening."

"Oh shut up," Nolan laughs.

Camilla finds a seat beside Isaac and quickly begins eating the macaroni and cheese on her lunch tray.

"You look good in a lacrosse jersey," Isaac whispers into her ear before planting a kiss on her cheek.

The dark haired girl chuckles and shoves her boyfriend playfully.

Nolan sits down in between Camilla and Stiles, directly across from Jackson. The werewolf smirks at Nolan and takes a bite out of his green apple. Nolan isn't sure how, but Jackson manages to make eating an apple look seductive.

"37 is your number," Stiles says to Nolan with a smile, "and I definitely think 24 is Lydia's."

"Yeah, well, this jersey smells like boy," Lydia tells the group with a roll of her eyes, "and if it were anyone else's it would be burning right about now."

"You're a real ray of sunshine," Stiles comments before he takes a long sip of his CapriSun.

"Can we talk about Operation Demons," Erica asks, "if we're going to try and settle this dispute or whatever between the demons and the hunters I'm going to need some details. This whole being out of the loop thing is sorta becoming bullshit."

"Sorry," Camilla tells the blonde, "it's just that, considering…"

"Considering nothing. I'm having a baby, not dying. I have a right to know what's going on in my pack."

"She's right," Scott says, "this is just as much Erica's battle as it is ours. Camilla, fill her in."

"It's simple, actually," the hunter tells them, "basically Nolan called his sister and said he was ready to join the hunters, and then he told his mother that he was ready to join the demons. He also told both of them to meet him on the lacrosse field after the game so that he and the rest of the pack could talk alliances."

"So he's drawing them both here to do what, exactly?" Erica asks.

"I'm hoping that if I get them both here we can try and settle everything," Nolan says, "the plan is to make peace. Get the hunters out of Beacon Hills and get the demons to agree to stop possessing people and just reside in Beacon Hills as regular citizens."

"The only thing we need to do is act like we don't know anything," Camilla adds, "even though the demons and the hunters know that Nolan is having the pack be a part of the meeting, we want it to seem like Nolan made this decision without consulting us first."

"Very covert," Lydia says with a sincere nod.

"Well, I think it's a good plan," Isaac announces, "nice work babe."

"Couldn't have done it without Nolan," Camilla smiles.

Jackson chuckles, "He's a pretty big help."

Nolan can feel his face redden at the boy's words and smoothly says, "Let's just hope that everything goes as planned and that nobody decides to turn this peace meeting into World War D."

"World War D?" Scott wonders.

"World War Demon," Stiles tells him, "I came up with that – and truthfully, I'm happy it caught on. Thank you Nolan."

"Anytime," the boy chuckles.

"So basically," Erica says, "we have to convince sworn enemies to drop the hate and just love each other, wishing and hoping that things don't turn sour and we don't have a repeat about the JavaPit explosion?"

"Pretty much," Camilla nods.

"Well… there's nothing better than blind optimism."

\-------

Strumming her fingers against her lab table, Camilla blows air out of her mouth, a few loose strands of hair puffing up from the force.

"…and like I was saying it should be really simple after you measure exactly what you need," her lab partner Jeremy drones on, trying to help Camilla understand their lab.

"Oh, okay. I get it," Camilla smiles, even though she had no idea what he was talking about. Jeremy smiles a smile of satisfaction.

"Maybe you should do it first, though," Camilla tells him, "so I can see how to do it for sure."

"Yeah, okay!" Jeremy nods his head as he grabs the lab materials. When he looks away, Camilla rolls her eyes. Poor Jeremy. He was one of those kids whose acne never really went away, and he wore ugly striped shirts that reminded Camilla of the guy from Blue's Clues. Plus he had unruly red hair that just put the cherry on top. No pun intended.

Camilla's eyes drift around the room, trying to find anything but Jeremy's lab demonstration to focus on. As her gaze passes over her classmates she notices Reina staring at her.

"Fucking bitch," she mutters under her breath.

"What was that?" Jeremy asks, swinging his head to look at her, his goggles sittin crooked on his nose.

"Oh I just, um, have to go to the bathroom," she stammers, standing up and walking away from the lab area. Not even bothering to grab a pass, she walks out the door and takes a deep breath.

She makes her way down the hallway, not intending to actually go into the bathrooms, but she ends up there anyway.

Leaning against the cool, porcelain sink, Camilla closes her eyes. She is soon interrupted when she hears the door swing open. Her eyes re-open and she frowns, watching as Reina walks in.

"Mrs. Malloy told me to check on you," she says smugly, crossing her arms over chest. Camilla couldn't help but laugh internally at how small it was.

"Well I'm fine so you can go now, demon girl," Camilla spits out, turning around to face the mirror instead of Reina. Or who/whatever she was.

The girl-demon snorts and walks further into the bathroom, her arms still crossed.

"You know, your boyfriend has the softest lips," she murmurs, her eyes on Camilla's through the mirror.

"Yeah, I do know, bitch."

Reina's smile deepens, and she sighs happily.

"You know, you should probably start being nicer to me," Reina says as she begins to pace the floor.

"Ha, and why is that?"

"Because your friend Nolan is with us now," Reina stops walking, looking into Camilla's eyes, her gaze smoldering.

"Excuse me?" Camilla feigns surprise. "Nolan would never join you dirty demons."

"Dirty demons… Nice," Reina chuckles. "Well, apparently he would and he did. I guess that means you're calling him dirty too, since he is part demon."

Camilla doesn't respond, her eyes glaring at Reina.

The demon stares at Camilla for a few more seconds then casts her eyes at her own reflection.

"Well, I guess I'm done here. See you back in class, Camilla," Reina smiles, her cold eyes flashing back to hers for a moment before she turns around and walks out of the bathroom.

Camilla waits until she hears the door shut and pulls out her phone.

Typing into her phone she writes:  _The plan is a go from the demon side. Reina just mentioned you joining their side, so Annalise must have bought it. Here we go…_

She hits send and smiles, happy their plan was falling into place.

\-------

The pep band begins to blast the school song as the principal introduces the lacrosse team. The boys on the team come rushing into the gym, the crowd of teenagers and faculty members go wild as they do so and an air of pure excitement falls over the place.

Lydia, Nolan, Camilla, and Erica stand in a line on the bleachers – cheering on their friends. The kids in the bleachers watches the principal hand Scott the microphone.

"Happy Homecoming," Scott says coolly, resulting in a loud bout of cheering from the people around him. The boy laughs and feels the hands of his teammates patting him on the shoulder, as the roaring subsides, Scott continues. "I'm Scott McCall co-captain of the lacrosse team and, well, I don't have a lot to say honestly. To start, I wanna thank all of you for your enthusiasm…"

In the stands, Nolan leans to Lydia and asks, "How is he so calm considering what might happen tonight?"

Lydia stifles a laugh, "Scott's been through… a lot. He's good at acting like he's fine with everything – but deep down he's screaming. He's out of his mind freaked out, but he knows that broadcasting that fear isn't going to help anything."

"…So I hope to see you all there when we kick some Greenview Gladiator butt!"

The crowd goes wild as Scott finishes his speech. The lacrosse player quickly passes the mic to Coach Finstock who gruffly says, "Hey, yeah, shut up!"

Instantly the room goes silent.

"Now, I don't want to see any of you at this homecoming game tonight under the influence of  _anything_. Got it? I don't wanna smell any Mary J, I don't wanna see any suspicious thermoses, I want this to be a good, clean game. Do you Neanderthals understand what I'm saying?"

Sensing the tension in the room, Coach Moore quickly snatches the microphone and says with a nervous laugh, "What Coach Finstock is trying to say is: we hope to see everyone having a good time tonight. So, uh, go BHHS!"

Slowly the crowd begins to clap and cheer.

"That was hard to watch," Erica says to Camilla sourly.

"Yeah, but watching Moore sweat is something I wouldn't mind seeing on a more regular basis," the dark haired girl replies.

"So to wrap things up," Principal Newcastle begins, "we hope everyone has a great, safe homecoming weekend!"

Erica laughs loudly as everyone in the gym begins to pour out.

"What's funny?" Nolan asks her as they make their way down the steps of the bleachers.

"Oh, I was just thinking there's a good chance we might not make it to homecoming!" the girl falls into another bought of laughter as Nolan, Camilla, and Lydia exchange anxious glances with each other.

As the four teenagers exit the gym completely the stop moving and stand in a small circle just outside the door. None of them speak, except for Erica who is choking back giggles. As the hall surrounding the gym empties it is Lydia who speaks first.

"Well, I haven't screamed, so that's good."

"Yeah," Nolan and Camilla say together.

Erica nods her head, "So maybe we aren't doomed. Maybe everything goes as planned."

"Maybe," Lydia smiles softly, not fully believing what Erica had said.

"Okay, well, I need to head home, but I'll see you guys tonight at the bonfire," Camilla says before she pats Nolan on the shoulder and begins to walk away.

"Yeah, Derek's probably waiting with my pre-natal vitamins or something, so…" Erica mumbles before walking away herself.

Nolan and Lydia don't say anything to one another, but instead lock eyes and slightly nod to each other - a firm understanding of what they cannot say resonating over them before the ultimately part ways as well.

As Lydia walks down the hall, she can't help but feel a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

\-------

"And this is the guys' locker room," Mr. Moore gestures towards the double doors that lay before the room where the lacrosse team is currently occupying. "I'd love to show you, but there are a bunch of naked high school boys in there right now, so I think we'll have to wait."

Mr. Moore's mother hits her son's shoulder playfully.

"Well, thank you for the tour, I'm sure Violet can make her decision now, right sweetheart?" the woman coos, wrapping one of her arms around her daughter, Mr. Moore's little sister, Violet.

The girl smiles, nodding. She opens her mouth to speak but is interrupted with the opening of the locker room door.

Scott steps out of the room, shutting it quickly. He notices Mr. Moore and his guests and smiles.

"Hey, Coach Moore. Who's this?" he asks, adjusting his gear.

"Scott, this is my mother, Janelle, and my sister, Violet," he gestures towards the women, smiling. Scott reaches out and shakes both of their hands, his eyes lingering on Violet, who blushes.

"I'm showing them around the school with the intention that Violet will transfer here," the coach adds, looking over at the girl.

"Where do you go now?" Scott asks, curious, his eyes on her. Violet blushes again.

"Greenview," she murmurs, looking down at her feet.

Scott tsks his tongue, "Our opponents? Well, I hope you know you're going down."

Violet looks back up at him briefly, her mouth twisting into a smile.

"Oh, really? Not with your defense," she says, a bit unsure of herself.

"Ouch," Scott laughs.

Mr. Moore laughs too, "I've told her a lot about this school, she picked up a thing or two."

The group laughs once more, Violet blushing even harder.

"Well, I just stepped out for some fresh air, so I'd better head back in. It was nice to meet you two, hopefully you consider transferring, we don't bite," Scott says as he looks directly at Violet.

With that, he slides back into the locker room, leaving Violet blushing and Scott laughing at his pun.

\-------

"I swear to God, if that Reina bitch stares at me for a minute longer I'm going to throw her into the fire," Camilla scowls, her eyes dark and angry.

Nolan chuckles nervously at his friend, "I don't think throwing her into the fire is going to solve any problems."

Turning back to face Nolan, Camilla sighs.

"You're probably right," she shrugs. "She's probably used to the whole being inside fire thing since she's from hell."

The boy laughs, thankful that his friend can distract him at least for a little bit. Once the humor fades, Nolan and Camilla stare at each other, both of their thoughts consumed by the battle that was about to begin.

Nolan looks into Camilla eyes, and he can see the bonfire flickering in her eyes from the reflection.

"Well, she might get a little suspicious as to why we are being so friendly since she revealed to me that you 'joined the dark side,'" Camilla mutters, using quotation marks to show her disgust. "We might as well give her a show."

Nolan smiles a small smile and nods.

"Channel your inner Palmer," Camilla winks at Nolan before changing her whole facial expression. Clearing her throat, she begins.

"You're unbelievable!" she shouts, startling Nolan. "How could you do something like that?"

Nolan gets into character, watching Camilla flare her hands wildly for emphasis.

"Because it's my life!" he yells back. "This was the best decision for me and I'm not changing it because you don't like it! Contrary to your own belief, I don't value your opinion over my own."

Camilla's face shows that Nolan's acting impresses her, but it's gone in a flash.

"Well have fun going to hell!" she says, stomping her foot and storming away from Nolan.

"I will! I'll probably see you there someday too!" he yells after her, very aware of all the eyes on him.

Nolan shakes his head, but internally gives himself a high five. He did good. Within a few moments, all the eyes of the bonfire-goers turn back to each other, and the focus is off of him. When he looks over at Reina, she nods at him appreciatively, whispering something to one of the other girls that was possessed. Nolan gives them a tight smile and pulls out his phone.

He is about to text Camilla as he sees Annalise's friend Malia glide past him.

Malia slowly makes her way to Annalise with Trevor, Lisa, and Cole trailing her. Malia is tense and she wishes terribly that she had been able to take Ben up on his offer to stay in for pizza and a movie, but duty called so she came running.

"Hey," Malia says to Annalise when she reaches her.

"I see you brought reinforcements," Annalise notes, "but no Mandy? I figured that trigger-happy bitch would be the first to arrive. Ya know, this is a parking lot full of innocent teenagers – seems like the perfect place for her to blow up."

"Annalise, come on. She did what any one of us would have done. We were all instructed to take out Kelly at whatever chance we got – she took a chance and it didn't work out, it happens."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Annalise hisses.

"Hayes," Trevor says as he takes a step toward her, "your brother said to meet with him and his friends after the game, correct?"

"Yes, sir, that would be correct."

Lisa claps her hands, "Oh, I do love a good lacrosse game."

Annalise and Malia both roll their eyes.

"Nolan says that he's ready to join us and help take Kelly out," Annalise tells her superior, "and if we get the wolves on our side we'll be set. It'll be no problem to get rid of her and all the rest of her demons."

"Good to hear," Cole says, "hopefully it works for us."

"It will," Malia snaps.

Trevor nods, "Well, if it doesn't… I'm afraid this may be the end for you, Hayes."

"Excuse me, sir?"

Lisa steps forward, "We've wasted too much time sitting around because you insisted we wait for your brother to make a decision for himself. Truthfully, we could have taken him and forced him to join us months ago and had your mother dead – so this little waiting game has really been more of a courtesy to you."

"So," Trevor continues, "if this little meeting proves to be fruitless… well, I'm sorry to say that we're going to have to see what you've done as an imposition. You distracted us from our mission and you know perfectly well how we handle things like that."

Annalise cackles, "You're going to kill me? Yeah right!"

The dark haired girl's eyes scan the group of hunters and sees confusion and sorrow in only Malia's eyes.

"Let's just hope Nolan doesn't let us down," Trevor says.

Farther away from the bonfire, Camilla spots Erica and Lydia sitting at one of the wooden tables their school had placed around the area.

The two spot their brunette friend and smile at her as she walks towards them.

"Very convincing fight," Lydia murmurs with satisfaction. "I almost believed it."

Camilla smiles and sits on the tabletop rather than one of the benches.

"I liked the hell part," Erica laughs. "It was very fitting for the situation."

"Agreed," Lydia nods, taking a swig of water.

"Well I'm glad we convinced you guys, it's the others I'm worried about," Camilla states, her eyes darting around the bonfire.

Shocking all three girls, even Erica despite her keen werewolf abilities, Stiles comes up from behind them and clears his throat.

"God, Stiles. Give us a warning," Camilla whines, pulling her (actually Isaac's) jacket tighter around her body in response to the chill.

"Sorry guys, I can't stay long I just needed to talk to Lydia for a sec," he says hurriedly, his eyes set on Lydia's.

Frowning from confusion, the strawberry blonde stands up, pulling down on her wool skirt that she had Stiles's jersey tucked into.

The two walk away from everyone and Erica and Camilla can see them begin a deep conversation.

"That looks intense," Erica mutters, popping an M&M into her mouth.

"Not as intense as what's about to happen after the game," Camilla says quietly, unable to pull her mind away from the pressing matter.

Erica looks at her friend sympathetically, "I wish I could be there with you guys. I can't even stay for the game. Derek and I both agreed I should stay away, but I didn't want to miss the bonfire…"

Camilla looks at Erica with a sad smile.

"I'm sad and glad you're missing it," she says to her.

Scooting over closer to where Camilla sits, Erica rests her head against one of Camilla's legs.

"This might just be my overly sensitive emotions, but I just wanted to tell you I love you," Erica says. "There's always a risk going into a fight, and I just wanted you to know in case anything… happens."

Camilla shudders at the thought but moves her hand to squeeze Erica's shoulder.

"Hey, it'll all be fine. Most of us are skilled fighters or werewolves or half demons. We'll be fine. A couple of scratches never hurt anyone."

Erica removes her head and looks up at her best friend.

"Just be careful, okay?" she asks quietly.

"You know I will," Camilla responds, smiling at her friend dearly.

Over where Lydia and Stiles stand, their conversation is going down a similar route.

Stiles looks back and sees Camilla and Erica staring at them, he crosses his eyes at them and laughs, before he grabs his girlfriend by the hand a slowly pulls her away from the intrusive eyes of Camilla and Erica by taking her to a secluded spot by the lacrosse field.

"What're we doing here, Stiles?" Lydia asks with a soft giggle.

Stiles sighs, "Well, I was kinda hoping for some luck."

"You want to get lucky? That's mighty bold of you."

Stiles laughs and shakes his head, "No, I just… we're about to play the homecoming game against our biggest rivals and after that there's a great chance we're going to be smack dab in the middle of a war, so I was… okay, so like I kinda… it's just…"

"Spit it out, Stilinski," Lydia finally interrupts.

"I was sorta, kinda hoping for a good luck kiss."

Lydia's brow furrows for an instant before she leans forward and gives Stiles a soft peck on the lips. It is not a passionate, needful kiss, but it is one that leaves Stiles longing for more – which was Lydia's intention.

As the girl pulls away she connects her forehead with Stiles', "You know I love you the most, right?"

"And you know I love you ten times more than that, right?"

Lydia giggles, "Go out there and show all these demons and werewolves that you don't need to be a supernatural to be special."

Stiles laughs and nods his head against Lydia's, "Roger that, captain."

The two pull apart and Lydia puts her hand forward and runs it down the side of her boyfriend's face, "We're going to be fine. I haven't screamed, nobody is going to die. Nolan and Camilla's plan is going to work and we're all going to have a perfectly ordinary rest of senior year."

"Hey, Lydia?"

"Yes?"

With a smile spreading on his face Stiles says, "You're a genius," before turning and walking away.

Lydia stands by herself beside the bleachers and lets out a sigh, repeating to herself over and over that everything was going to be alright.

\-------

"Uggghhhh, overtime is the worst," Lydia whines, shivering from the cold. The temperature has dropped quite a bit since the start of the game, and it was affecting everyone, even the players. What was supposed to be a semi-easy win has turned into overtime, with less than a minute left.

The strawberry blonde tightens the scarf she had put on over her jersey and her jacket, hoping to gain more warmth. She and Camilla stand as close as they can together, shivering from both the cold and their worries.

"C'mon baby!" Camilla yells out to Isaac even though she doubts he can hear her. It just feels good to yell.

The game continues, Beacon Hills with the ball, Scott rushing down the field. The opponent's defense is relentless tonight, and everyone's eyes are glued on Scott, either seriously hoping he scores or seriously hoping he falls flat on his face.

Taking hit after hit, Scott keeps pushing forward, the goal mere feet away. The seconds drain by, barely any time left.

Moments later, cheers erupt into the air from the Beacon Hills side. Scott scored. They won. Camilla, Lydia, Allison, and Nolan begin to cheer loudly, happy for their friends.

Suddenly, pure fear grips Lydia and her cheers cut off in her throat. Her eyes seem to shake inside her head as the feeling she knew and hated comes to the surface.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" she screams, a bloodcurdling scream. Her friends turn to her, their cheers cutting off too, knowing her deathly scream well, unfortunately.

"Lydia, let's go," Camilla ushers the girl off of the bleachers and away from the cheering crowds. Surprisingly, no attention was drawn to Lydia since her screams are masked by the undying shouts and cheers of the winning team.

The four of them hustle to get away, and Nolan turns to Allison.

"Look, I know why you came to the game, but I suggest you leave. This isn't your fight, it's mine and due to Lydia's death wail, I now know that people are dying tonight, and I've somewhat accepted it, but I would never forgive myself if you were one of the casualties. You were just brought back, and I'm not letting you leave them again. This isn't your fight, Allison. Go home."

He looks at her for a few seconds longer, in his eyes a serious, demanding look. He doesn't wait for a response and turns on his heel to join Camilla and Lydia, leaving Allison alone once again.

\-------

The last few people clear off the lacrosse field, all that's left are two nets paired with a circle of lights and bleachers. Nolan stands by the scoreboard, smoking a cigarette. He's nervous and he had just recently managed to curb his nicotine cravings for when times of great stress popped up – and tonight was a very stressful night.

Camilla struts up to Nolan, no longer wearing Isaac's jersey. The girl's face is tight and Nolan can tell that she's just as stressed as he is.

"So, this is a good plan, right?" Nolan asks her as he finishes the cigarette.

"It is a very good plan," Camilla agrees, "and it's going to work."

"Right… okay, yeah. And I mean if it doesn't…"

"If it doesn't then we die and it won't matter anyway because we'll be dead."

Nolan nods his head, "Excellent point."

The two stand there for a minute, not saying anything just soaking in each other's presence. There's an odd sense of calm that falls over them as they stand there. Nolan opens his mouth to say something and shuts his mouth, swallowing his words.

Camilla bites her lip and then says, "Ya know, we don't have to do that thing. You say something and then I say something and there's a moment and then one of us cries – I'm guessing that would be you… I mean we both know what this whole like, the big picture with us is."

"Okay, yeah, that's fair," Nolan replies, "but, you're going to hate me for this – but, the day my sister died or like joined the hunters or whatever, that day I didn't get a chance to tell her I love her. So, I wanna just say that I love you, Camilla Argent. In case we die…"

The girl rolls her eyes and smiles before she says, "I'm gonna hug you."

Nolan laughs and wraps his arms around the girl as she wraps her arms around him.

"You know, considering the circumstances this is very inappropriate."

"Well, I love being inappropriate."

From beside the bleachers the two teenagers hear Lydia shout, "Get over here!"

Camilla and Nolan quickly part and rush over to the rest of the group and just as they tuck themselves behind the bleachers a fog comes rolling across the field and then at least fifteen demons appear on the field as well.

"There's my mom," Nolan whispers to anyone who was listening.

"And Reina," Camilla adds.

Isaac squints and then asks, "Is that Mr. McGraw from the bank? He's possessed?"

"And that's Dr. Burke from the hospital," Scott continues, "and Nurse Olivia and Nurse Debbie…"

"And Finn from my art class and…" Lydia says.

"Taren from chemistry last year…" Jackson notes.

Nolan frowns, "Ms. Fleur is possessed? What the hell?"

"That's Deputy Garrett," Stiles gasps, "those demons were smart… targeting authority figures…"

The demons form a sort of triangle on their side of the field and stand for a minute, no doubt waiting for Nolan. Minutes tick by and suddenly the hunters arrive strutting toward the field with cat-like grace, they're all dressed in black and look incredibly sleek.

"Here comes my sister…" Nolan whispers, feeling himself shrinking.

The hunters abruptly stop moving as the stand opposite the demons. There's an incredibly feeling of tension that settles around everyone much like the fog.

"Annalise," Kelly calls from the front of the demon's formation.

"Don't reply, Hayes," an African-American man from the front of the hunter's formation instructs, "it's smarter not to engage with the hostiles."

"Oh, we're hostile all right," Reina hisses, "and we're out for blood."

"What are you gonna do Teen Queen," a woman on the hunter's side laughs, "you gonna sass us to death? That'll be truly terrifying."

"How about I help her hold you down and watch as she pulls your eyeballs from their sockets?" Finn counters, "Would that be a little more horrific for you?"

"It's all irrelevant anyway," Malia shouts, "Nolan picked us. We're the people he chose and with him on our side we'll be able to condemn you demons for good. Say goodnight hellbeasts, you're going down."

Kelly laughs, "Oh you ignorant little girl. Nolan didn't join you, he joined us. He knew that his true family was with us – he's a firm believer that the people who tried to blow him up are not the people to associate with. Plus his taste is much better than his sister's."

"You're mistaken, demoness," the head of the hunter's snaps, "Nolan is with us. He said so himself."

"Wait…" Reina says, "Nolan told them he was joining them and told us he was with us… he's playing us – all of us. He's trying to screw with us."

Kelly turns around and faces the girl, "Why would he do that?"

Out of nowhere a bullet comes flying through the air, knocking Taren to the ground where she eventually explodes into a black dust. Kelly quickly whips back around to face the hunters and sees a short man pointing a rifle at them.

"You said it yourself mother," Annalise yells, "this is war."

More fog rises up and soon the demons and the hunters are out of the pack's sight. The strain their eyes searching for them, but cannot see or hear anything until a round of shots is fired.

Screams fill the air.

Hell had arrived.

\-------


	36. Feels Like We Only Go Backwards (4x24)

Lydia cowers beneath the bleachers as war wages on the lacrosse field. Her heart is beating a mile a minute and the girl feels nauseous. She puts a cold hand on the back of her neck as she sees Finn from art get shot.

He trips backward but doesn't fall; instead he sticks his fingers in the wound and pulls the bullet out of his shoulder. Throwing it to the ground he charges at the hunter who had just shot him.

Lydia begins to feel faint; her head feels full as she watches all the chaos on the field. None of this was part of the plan. This was a complete derailment and derailments were not something that Lydia Martin enjoyed.

Suddenly there is a hand gripping her shoulder and the girl nearly screams, but stops herself when she turns around and sees Stiles behind her. Without thinking the girl buries her head in the boy's chest and takes a deep sigh of relief, she breathes in the boy and feels an odd sense of safety settle over her. She feels Stiles' arms wrap around her which makes her feel even safer.

"Are you okay?" the boy asks her, concern embedded in his tone.

Lydia pulls away slightly and stares up at him saying, "I hate my life. Why is this what I have to deal with – what  _we_  have to deal with the day before homecoming? Why?"

Stiles shrugs, "I'm not sure, but at this point I don't think we're needed. I think it would be in everyone's best interest if we hop in my jeep and high-tail it out of here."

"You want to run?"

"I want to not die, if that involves running then… yeah, I wanna run."

Suddenly there is an itching feeling at the back of Lydia's throat and a chill runs down her spine. It is a feeling she is painfully accustomed to.

Stiles raises an eyebrow, "Lydia… what're you –"

But the boy's question is cut off by Lydia's bloodcurdling scream

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Camilla darts out of the way of two men currently engaged in a battle of fists, barely escaping a right hook. She looks around at the chaos surrounding her and her stomach tightens. Everyone was fighting. Everyone.

Looking around for an ally, Camilla begins to quickly move forward, only to be pulled back by her hair. As her head and her body jerk backwards, she yelps out in pain, feeling her hair being tugged by immense strength.

Once she lands on the ground, hard, she immediately begins twisting and turning her body, her hunter senses kicking in. With a little more pain, Camilla is able to remove the surprise attacker's grip from her hair, and she quickly whips around onto her knees, where she tries to stand up.

Her face is immediately met with a harsh punch, knocking her back onto her butt once again. But this time, Camilla springs right back up onto her feet, ready to face… Reina.

"I should've known you were a hair-puller. The bad fighters always are," Camilla spits out, wiping blood from the corner of her mouth as she and Reina lock their eyes.

"Bad fighter huh? Who's the one bleeding?" Reina retorts, smirking.

"Oh, congratulations on your sneak attack that a middle-schooler could pull off. Let's see how you do face to face."

Reina raises her eyebrows in amusement, "Bring it."

With that, the two girls assess each other, much like two lions about to engage in a fight. Both wait for the other to make the first move.

Camilla is the one to initiate things, launching herself at Reina, who was a little less than prepared. Soon enough, the two girls are at it, fists and feet flying.

Camilla punches Reina hard enough to knock her to the ground, a dirt puffing up around where the demon-possessed girl falls. Camilla stands over the girl, slamming her foot down onto her chest so she cannot get up.

Camilla's leg moves up and down as Reina struggles for air, her smirk still on her face.

Before Camilla can make another move, she hears a familiar scream. The scream, or at least the pain in the scream, makes Camilla's heart drop. It was Nolan, and he was hurt.

Her eyes quickly flash over to where the scream came from. She spots Nolan and an unrecognizable man on the top row of the bleachers. The man was holding Nolan upside down over the railing, and Camilla could see blood on Nolan's face.

Without warning, Reina pushes Camilla's leg off, but surprisingly, Camilla is ready and quickly gives the girl a punch to knock her back down for a while.

"I'm not done with you, bitch. I'll be back," Camilla growls, her eyes moving back to where Nolan still hangs off the bleachers.

\-------

Scott charges at the girl who had just shot him, his werewolf face coming out as he does so.

Malia drops the gun and pulls a knife from her side and gets into a fighting stance. Her breathing is rigid in the midst of war, but that doesn't make her any less prepared.

As Scott reaches her the girl swings the blade and manages to slice the boy's eyebrow. Scott howls in pain and pulls a fist around, smacking the girl in the head. Malia falls, but lands gracefully and moves her leg in just the right way so as to kick Scott square in the stomach.

"BAD DOG!" she screams in the process.

Animal rage taking over Scott's body, the boy grabs her leg and treats it like a twig – snapping it in a sickening manner.

Malia screams, although it is lost in the sea of fighting.

The scream isn't lost to Scott though and his werewolf demeanor slowly fades away. He looks at the girl crumbled on the ground, she is trying to pull herself away from him. Guilt washes over the alpha as he reaches down and scoops her up.

"I… I didn't mean to," the boy says as he carries her off the field and back into the woods.

Malia's face is tense, "Oh, I bet."

Scott sets her down on a fallen tree and then sits down beside her. He reaches a hand out and places it on the leg he had broken – taking away her pain. The ache flows from her leg and into Scott's hand and the boy can feel tears welling in his eyes.

Malia watches intently as Scott does this, and breathes a sigh of relief as the pain leaves her body.

"I'm sorry," Scott says once more before taking his hand off her leg, "I'll come back for you after."

The boy begins to leave, but not before he hears Malia say, "I'm sorry too."

\-------

Camilla's feet clang loudly as she shoots up the rows of the bleachers, her heart racing from the adrenaline and from the worry that Nolan would be hurt.

"Hey, buddy!" she screams at the man whose fists were tangled in Nolan's shirt, pushing the boy into the hard metal of the railing.

The man turns to face Camilla, and she can see the shock on his face as she pulls out her knife.

"Put him the fuck down. And I mean on these bleachers, or your ass is grass," she says calmly but with extreme threat.

By the look in his eyes, Camilla can tell the man is afraid of her. Slowly but surely, he brings Nolan back onto the bleachers, his eyes moving from Camilla to Nolan rapidly. Once Nolan's feet touch the bleachers, the man lets go and leaps to get away.

Camilla is expecting his escape, and she lunges for him. Her body hits his hard, and they both go down, landing awkwardly and painfully on the bleachers. Camilla's knife falls out of her hand, clambering against metal as it falls.

The next minute is a struggle as both Camilla and the man try to overcome the other, but Camilla's speed dominates, and she pins the man underneath her, her fists ready to move.

She uses all her strength and carries it into two punches which disorient the man, but not enough. He begins bucking her off, his legs kicking up at Camilla. She holds on and is able to deliver another punch that stops the movement for a moment.

Panic races through her as she realizes her punches alone will not subdue the man. Her throbbing hand warns her that if she keeps punching, it will break.

With hardly any time to think, Camilla grabs the man's head and crashes it down against the metal bleacher beneath it. Over and over again she bangs his head until all his movements stop.

Breathing heavily, her hands shaking, Camilla reaches down to feel for a pulse.

"Oh, God. Please don't let him be dead…" she whispers.

She presses two fingers against the side of his throat, relief washing through her as she feels a steady beat.

"Camilla, is he alive?" Nolan's voice asks. Camilla jumps at the sound, nearly forgetting the boy was there.

"Yeah," she responds, panting. "He's alive."

Nolan looks at her and doesn't say anything else, his eyes full of sadness. It's then Camilla realizes Nolan's death grip on the bleacher railing, his knuckles white from his grip.

Wiping sweat and blood from her forehead, Camilla shakily stands up, careful to maneuver around the unconscious man.

"Let's get off of here Nolan, bleachers are not a good place to fight on," she tells him, stepping up and reaching a hand out to him.

Reluctantly, Nolan takes a hold of the outstretched hand, ignoring the blood on it.

"You scare me, Camilla," Nolan says softly as the two begin to step down off of the bleachers.

The girl doesn't respond, knowing fairly well how she must come off to a kid whose worst fight was probably a thumb war.

The two hit solid ground and scurry to find a place away from the fight. They move toward the back of the bleachers, Camilla's eyes scanning the ground for her knife.

The blade glints in the light, and Camilla's eyes flash over to it with relief.

"Nolan, I need to grab my knife, then we should get out of here. You shouldn't be in the middle of all this anymore," she tells him, her voice shaking as much as her body was.

Nolan nods, knowing he was the prize in this fight.

Camilla gives him one last look before climbing over metal beams to get underneath the bleachers. Nolan looks around uneasily, hearing and feeling the sounds of a brutal fight all around him. Behind him was a wooded area, and the bleachers gave him some shelter, but he still had an uneasy feeling.

"Got it!" Camilla's voice exclaims, Nolan turns back to look at his friend, but his head doesn't make it all the way before he feels himself being thrown into the side of the bleachers.

All the air rushes from Nolan's body as he hits the hard, hard metal with a huge thud. Pain screams through every inch of him as he crumples to the ground. He hears Camilla scream his name right as strong hands pick him up and throw him into the bleachers once again.

This time, everything goes black for a bit, his head slamming into the metal. He doesn't have to see it to realize a huge gash has opened up in his head.

Barely conscious, Nolan braces himself for another clash with the bleachers, feeling those strong hands wrap around him again.

Before the metal bites into him, though, the hands let go and Nolan falls onto the ground.

Camilla screams as she rips Reina off of Nolan, her anger far beyond its highest level.

"You filthy fucking demon!" she yells, the words ripping from her throat as she drags the girl away from Nolan. "What the fuck did you do?!"

Reina, hardly able to talk, replies, "I got rid of the problem."

Camilla stops dead in her tracks and pulls Reina's face up towards hers, so the demon girl can feel her words.

"Well now I'm getting rid of you," she states plainly, raw anger in her voice.

She grips the knife in her hand and begins to lift it.

"Camilla, stop!"

The girl's head whips around to see Isaac standing twenty feet away from her, his face red and his eyes worried. The distraction is all the demon inside Reina needs to expel itself from the girls body.

Camilla feels Reina shudder, and she instantly turns back to the girl, watching right as a black fog shoots out of her mouth. Camilla brings her knife closer, scared and confused.

"Camilla, don't! It's not the demon anymore, stop!" Isaac warns.

Her heart thudding, her mind racing, Camilla watches as the fog continues to pour out. This is it. This is her chance. The demon was still inside.

With a flash, her knife rips across the girl's throat just as the last of the fog leaves. Blood immediately begins spurting out, spraying all over Camilla and Reina.

Camilla watches as the girl's eyes widen, her cough hitching in her throat as she chokes on her blood.

A few moments go by and the girl stops jerking around, stops coughing.

Camilla stands, letting the body fall to the floor. She waits for it to turn into ash, just like all demon-possessed bodies do. She waits.

"Camilla, what the hell did you do? You fucking killed her!" Isaac screams as he rushes towards her.

"But, the demon—"

"It left! You killed her!"

\-------

Nolan lifts his head up, still disoriented. His vision is blurred but he can very clearly make out a woman coming toward him. She drops to her knees in front of him and places her hands on his shoulders, steadying him. Nolan squints, trying hard to focus and manages to do so and when he does he sees his mother kneeling before him.

"Darling, are you alright?" Kelly asks worriedly.

Trying to find the words, Nolan settles on nodding.

"That Reina bitch was always a pain in my ass," Kelly hisses, "and now I'm really sick of her."

Suddenly there is another figure beside them. This one holds a gun in her hand, but she quickly drops it and sinks to her knees as well. Nolan makes this woman out to be his sister, who gently brushes the side of his head.

"Jesus Christ, is he okay?" Annalise asks.

Kelly nods, "He'll be fine. He's a Hayes – we're all tough."

"No joke," Annalise agrees, "that's a real nasty cut you've got on your forehead there, little brother."

Confused, Nolan reaches up and touches his forehead and when he brings his hand back down he can see crimson blood on his hand, "Shit," the boy finally says, "shouldn't you two be fighting?"

Kelly and Annalise look at each other for a moment, seeming confused as to why they would be fighting, and then the current setting dawns on them, yet it is almost as though they were both abundantly aware that this whole demon/hunter war was completely irrelevant.

"You being okay is much more important," Annalise says, "all this fighting is about you… and mom and I both want you to be safe."

Nolan shakes his head, "What's so special about me?"

Kelly purses her lips and begins to speak, "That doesn't matter now, darling, what matters is your wellbeing. In fact, it is a nice change to see your sister looking out for you – I remember a time when she would've knocked you down herself."

Annalise and Kelly both laugh and everything seems incredibly surreal to Nolan. He feels like this is some vivid fever dream, like there was no possible way that what he was experiencing right now was his life.

Just as fast as the laughing had begun, it ended as a thick knife with odd engravings on it comes tumbling toward Kelly. The woman turns just in time to see it before it is sunk deep into her corroded artery and then violently ripped out. Blood squirts out in a sickening fashion as the man wielding the knife is suddenly taken to the ground by Annalise.

The girl begins pounding the man, her fist connecting with his face time and time again.

Still slightly dazed, and overwhelmingly frightened, Nolan reaches down to his mother's neck where blood is pouring out and covers it with his hands, hoping to stop the profuse bleeding. The woman is gasping for breath and squeezing her son's wrist with all the strength she has.

"Mom… mommy," he begins to sob.

Soon the blood turns into the familiar black dust and Kelly's body begins to flatten, just as it had in the summer. The woman's once lively eyes glaze over and look glassy as they stare into nothing. The hand that Kelly had been holding onto Nolan with goes limp and falls to the ground.

"Ann _alise Marie Hayes," Kelly calls to her daughter, racing up to her, "stop harassing your brother!"_

" _But mom," Annalise argues, "I want to swing."_

" _So you push your brother off? That's not very sisterly of you."_

" _Well I never asked to be his sister," Annalise retorts._

" _She hates me!" Nolan cries, "She hates me and she wishes I was never born!"_

" _Crybaby!" Annalise_ hisses _._

" _Enough! Both you! Now Annalise I want you to apologize to your brother right now," Kelly snaps._

" _Mommy," Annalise begins._

" _Apologize."_

_Annalise sighs, "Fine. Nolan I am very sorry I pushed you off the swing. I should have waited my turn."_

_Nolan wipes a tear from his face and stands up, walking over to his mom. He wraps his arms around her leg and nuzzles his head in the rough fabric of Kelly's jeans._

_Kelly crouches down so she's nearly the same height as her children. She grabs on of Nolan's hands and one of Annalise's and smiles at them, "You two are brother and sister. You're family. You shouldn't fight with each other, you should be protecting each other. You two need to take care of each other."_

_Annalise suddenly feels awful and reaches out her free hand to take Nolan's, "I don't hate you… I_ love you, Nolan."

Nolan's memory disappears just as quickly as it had appeared. He looks down to where his mother had just been and now just sees a pile of ashes – it wasn't the same as when she had slit her wrists this summer, this was different. This pile of ashes made it seem like Kelly wouldn't be coming back again.

Realizing the gravity of the situation Nolan stands up, brushing away the last of his tears.

His face is stony as he screams, "ENOUGH!"

When nothing happens, the boy screams it again and again and again until all the people on the field turn their attention to him. Annalise stops fighting her fellow hunter to look at her brother as he takes a deep breath.

"Kill me," Nolan says.

"What?" the African American man who had been fighting Annalise asks.

Nolan turns to him, "All of this is because of me. My mother is dead because of me, you are all fighting because of me – hoping I'm going to pick a side, well I'm not. I don't know what's so special about me being a half-demon that a war had to break loose and I don't really care. You want this all to end, kill me."

"Nolan…" Camilla and Jackson say in unison from opposite sides of the boy.

"Kill me," he says again, "end all of this and kill me."

\-------

Camilla stares at her hands resting in her lap. Blood covered them. Hell, blood covered just about every inch of her body. She killed an innocent girl.

She tries to swallow, her throat dry and burning. It was all over, yet she felt worse than she had before the fight.

She leans back into the seat of the car she was sitting in, her eyes closing. She killed an innocent girl.

She hears a hitch in the car door on the other side of her and feels cool air pool into the car. The familiar groan of leather tells her that someone just sat down in her passenger seat.

"Camilla…"

Tears begin to flow down her face right then as she hears the utter disappointment in Isaac's voice. She knew he was beyond angry.

"Don't," she warns, her voice wobbling. "I know what I did."

Isaac sighs and Camilla finally opens her eyes to look over at him.

"You let your anger get the best of you again. You killed her, Camilla. I told you the demon was gone and you—"

Sobs escape from Camilla's throat as she listens to his words. His awful, awful words.

"I think we need a break…" Isaac murmurs quietly. Camilla thought what he was saying before was painful but now…

"What?" she chokes out, whimpering.

"I just… You're not the same. There's something different about you…"

Camilla's face cringes, "Different? How? I'm the same person I've always been…"

Isaac shakes his head.

"No, you're not." He looks her blank in the face. "You killed a girl tonight, a girl who didn't deserve to die."

"What?" she screams, still sobbing. "You think me… killing her changes me? I'm still the same person, Isaac. I thought—"

"You're not though. You have innocent blood on your hands, Camilla."

"I didn't mean it, you have to know that. I didn't mean it—"

"I know, I just… I can't do this anymore. Not after tonight," he says quietly, refusing to look at her.

Camilla turns her eyes to the dashboard, staring at the odometer.

"So that's it," she says monotonously.

Isaac sighs and tries to speak but Camilla interrupts him.

"Get out then."

Isaac looks at her, "Camilla, don't—"

"Get out." She says the words forcefully, still not looking Isaac in the face.

The boy waits a moment, but when no more words are said, he steps out of the car and shuts the door. Almost immediately after the door is closed, Camilla's car speeds off into the night, and within seconds, the only trace of her being there is the trail of upturned dust she left behind.

Isaac watches as the dust flies in the air, and his mind is transported back to a night before it all went wrong.

Camilla squeals as Isaac reaches for her neck, knowing how sensitive her skin was there. It is the most ticklish spot on her body.

" _Isaac, stop it!" she whines, jerking her neck out of his reach._

_She rolls off of the blanket the two are laying on, and stands up, her bare feet cushioned by the soft grass._

" _I can't believe we just had sex on the lacrosse field," he mutters, placing his hands behind his head and looking up at the dark sky._

" _Well believe it, Lahey. I told you I could show you incredible things," Camilla sings out playfully._

_Isaac tilts his head up to look at Camilla, curious as to why she hadn't come back onto the blanket yet. He watches as she slides her long dress onto her body, not bothering to put her undergarments back on._

_Her eyes move back to him and she smiles._

" _Stop watching me, perv," she jokes._

_Before Isaac can say something back, a huge gust of wind bursts through the air, making the blanket underneath Isaac rise up where he wasn't laying on it. Camilla's dress flies into the air, making her laugh and scream at the same time._

" _Holy shit, that wind is cold!" she yells, hurrying to move back over to Isaac. "Let's get out of here, isn't it supposed to storm?"_

_Isaac nods, pushing himself into a sitting position. Quickly, he pulls on his own clothes and the two hurry to grab the blanket._

" _My panties!" Camilla yells from behind Isaac. Turning, he watches as Camilla's black thong floats into the air, being carried away by the strong wind._

" _Leave 'em, babe!" Isaac yells, returning on his journey back to the car._

" _Hell no! Those were expensive!" she yells back. Isaac shakes his head, eventually making it to the car. Throwing in the blanket, he gets inside, almost struggling to shut the door as the wind pushes on._

_The wind blows the dust around, and soon enough Isaac loses sight of Camilla. Straining himself, he watches for any sign of his girlfriend._

_Suddenly, she emerges, though the dust makes it hard for her to clearly be seen. All Isaac sees is her figure jumping and running all around the parking area, her dress flowing about her crazily._

_Giggling to himself, he waits a few more minutes before seeing Camilla trudge towards the car. The girl opens the door and shoves herself inside. With a bit of a struggle, she gets the door shut. Without turning to look at Isaac, she places her hands over her chest and pouts._

" _They gone?" Isaac asks, smirking._

" _Just drive, Lahey," she says angrily._

" _Whatever you say_ babe," he responds, a laugh escaping.

\-------

Nolan snuggles further into his pillow, his head aching and his heart hurting.

His tears are finally done, but they just left him feeling empty. Beside him, Jackson lies still, his warm hand on top of Nolan's. He knew now wasn't the time to talk.

The two boys lay like that for what seems like a long time. Maybe a few minutes, maybe a few hours. Nolan's thoughts don't change, however, his mother is the only thing on his mind.

Suddenly, Jackson jerks up in bed, his hand moving off of Nolan's.

"What is it?" Nolan asks, curious, yet he doesn't move from his position. Honestly, nothing could make him feel any better or any worse.

"I hear something. Someone's here," Jackson says, on alert. Soon enough, Nolan hears footsteps, and his heart begins to pound faster.

Jackson's body tenses as the footsteps stop right outside Nolan's door. Within an instant the door is pushed open and Jackson is ready to pounce.

"Calm down, Jacob, it's just me," Camilla drones from the doorway. Without waiting for a response, she steps into the room and moves over to the bed.

"Camilla, what are you doing?" Nolan asks, actually relieved to see his friend.

"And why did you call me Jacob? Did you hit your head too?" Jackson asks, partly kidding, party serious.

Camilla falls onto the bed and crawls up into the middle, in between Jackson and Nolan, and lays down.

"No, dumb ass. Well, yes, but I called you Jacob because you're acting like Jacob from Twilight. I'm actually kind of mad at myself for making such a terrible joke, but given the circumstances, it's allowed."

Jackson relaxes a bit more, but is still unnerved.

"Well, um, why are you here? And why are you hogging the bed?"

"Isaac and I broke up," she says flatly. "And if you don't like the capacity my body takes up, you are welcome to leave. But I'm staying."

Neither boy knows how to respond as Camilla buries herself in Nolan's covers.

"I'm sorry, Camilla," Nolan says after a moment.

"Me too, kid. Can we just sleep?"

Nolan rolls from his side onto his back and nods, "I would like nothing more."

Sighing loudly, Jackson lays back down.

"Sleep tight…" Camilla says in a soft, sad voice.

\-------

Nolan's eyes flutter open slowly and reluctantly in the morning. At first he thinks that everything that had transpired in the night was nothing but an awful dream, but then he looks beside him and sees Camilla in a gray hoodie fast asleep and the thought that everything was a dream slips from his mind.

The boy takes in his surroundings: his white cat at the end of the bed, his tall dresser, his desk, the bay window, he catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror above his dresser and sees that he's wearing his favorite Dartmouth shirt although he can't remember putting it on.

With a fluttering feeling in his chest, Nolan nudges Camilla. The girl groans and pulls the pillow out from underneath her head to cover her face.

"I'm deep in the woods here," the girl says flatly.

"Camilla, come on," Nolan insists, "get up."

The girl removes the pillow and opens one eye to stare at her friend, "My boyfriend thinks I'm a murderous bitch. I think I've earned a little TLC in bed, Nolan. And so did you – your mother died last night and you… god, you're an  _idiot_."

"Why am I an idiot?"

"You told the demons and the demon hunters to  _kill_  you, you dumb shit. I know that you're all scary and damaged and everything but I never knew that you had suicidal tendencies. What next? You gonna try and drown yourself in the bathtub?"

Nolan rolls his eyes, "I thought it was a heroic thing to do."

Camilla sits up and shakes her head, "No you didn't. I see right through your little superhero façade. You were sad and scared and you wanted a way out and you thought that they would do it – you thought they'd kill you. You  _wanted_  them to kill you."

"I did not."

"Liar."

"Camilla, just drop it."

"You can't die," Camilla says suddenly serious, "you can't. I need you alive, you're my person."

Nolan looks at the girl, a smile spreading on his face, "I am?"

"Don't make it a big deal. Just don't do anymore reckless shit like telling people to kill you, alright? Avoid Molotov cocktails too."

Before Nolan can reply there is a knock on his bedroom door. He cautiously says, "Come in," and is met by Annalise.

"I made waffles, if you're hungry," the older Hayes informs the two teenagers.

"Okay, we'll be down in a second," Nolan tells her.

"Oh, and Jackson left a little bit ago. He said to call him once you were done consoling your twisted sister… I wasn't sure what he meant when he said that, but I guess he meant Camilla."

"That Jackass," Camilla beams, "such a little jokester."

Without another word, Annalise slips out of the room, shutting the door firmly behind her. Nolan sighs and runs a hand through his hair before sliding out of the bed. His socked feet making a soft thud on the floor as he walks around his queen sized bed to his cat's food dish, he quickly fills up Charlton Heston's bowl before turning to Camilla.

"Are we going to homecoming tonight?" the boy asks.

Camilla shakes her head, "Waffles. Let's just… let's just focus on waffles."

The two make their way downstairs and to the dining room where they are met with the aroma of waffles. The teenagers quickly grab plates and then waffles and begin to prepare their breakfast when Annalise comes out of the kitchen with an envelope in her hands.

Nolan points to it with his eyes and he chews a piece of waffle, "What's that?"

Annalise doesn't say anything, she just hands the envelope to her brother. The boy takes it warily and looks at the back where he sees his name written in his father's fidgety print.

Shrugging, the boy opens it up and begins to read the letter that had been patiently awaiting inside.

" _Nolan –_

_I am an awful father, but I feel as though there isn't any other option for me at this point. Your mother is dead, and according to your sister she won't be coming back this time… and with that in mind I've decided to leave as well. I know that you'll probably hate me and I almost hope you will – that will make all of this so much easier. Perhaps someday you'll be able to understand why I've done what I did… maybe you'll be able to understand all of my actions. I'm sorry, son. I have let you down far too many times._

_I hope you get everything you want out of your life._

_Dad."_

Nolan looks up from the letter, tears stinging his eyes.

"Seriously?" the boy asks no one, "Seriously?"

"What is it?" Camilla asks worriedly.

The boy turns to her as tears begin sliding down his face, "My dad.. he uh, he left."

\-------

"That was Scott," Derek says solemnly as he walks into the living room. Erica looks up at him expectantly.

"And?"

"Nolan's mother died… A few others did too, and there were quite a few injuries. But everyone we know is fine," Derek reveals, sighing as he does.

Erica relaxes a little, her curled-up fists unclenching.

Derek places himself next to Erica on the couch and he pulls her in tightly.

"So does this mean it's over?" Erica asks, her face resting on Derek's chest.

"Scott thinks so. After Nolan lost his mom he sort of freaked out and made everyone call a truce."

Erica takes in the information, her heart saddening.

"Well, maybe there will be peace in Beacon Hills once and for all… Lord knows we need it," Erica mumbles, snuggling closer against Derek.

Suddenly, they both hear a knock at the door, making both jerk up from their comfortable position.

"Is Scott supposed to come over…?" Erica asks.

Derek frowns and stands up, "He didn't say anything, maybe it's Camilla and Isaac."

The man walks quickly over to the door, his strides long. Pulling open the door, his eyes widen in surprise.

"Derek Hale?" a woman's voice says. Erica feels like the voice is familiar but she can't place it.

"Yeah, that's me," Derek responds warily.

"You're under arrest for the murder of Marin Morell…"

Those words are barely spoken before Erica shoots up from the couch and rushes to the door, just in time to watch Ben grab Derek's shoulders and turn him around, cuffs in one of his hands.

"What?" Erica yells. "What is going on?"

Derek sputters out similar questions as Donna Lamb rambles on.

"You have the right to remain silent…"

Erica turns to Ben, "What are you doing? Ben, what is happening?"

Ben looks over at her with a sad expression as he continues cuffing Derek.

"Anything you say or do can and will be used against you…"

"Ben, please!"

"You have the right to an attorney…"

"Ben! God dammit, Derek, what is this?"

With that, Derek looks over, fear in his blue eyes as he is led away from his house in handcuffs, Erica standing in the doorway crying.

\-------


	37. A Night to Remember (5x01)

Scott McCall walks down the stairs and turns the corner to make his way to the kitchen. The Saturday morning sun is shining brightly into the house which gives Scott a warm, fuzzy feeling that he was getting more and more accustomed to having.

Since the majority of the demon hunters had left town after the war on the lacrosse field things in Beacon Hills had been unusually quiet – not that Scott or any of the rest of the pack minded. Nine months of serenity.

"Busy day today," Melissa says to her son as he enters the kitchen.

Scott shrugs, "Not too bad."

"It's, uh, prom night tonight isn't it?" the Sheriff asks before taking a sip of his morning coffee.

"Well, yeah, but Violet's the one who has the stressing to do. All I have to do is shower, shave, and make sure I'm in my tux by 5:45 so that I'm ready for dinner," Scott tells the man, "it's easy with a capital E."

"And, Stiles? Has he talked to you…?"

"No, not since I didn't jump on the 'Break Up Our Parents' bandwagon."

Melissa puts a hand on the Sheriff's shoulder, "He'll come around."

"I wish I was as optimistic as you were," the man sighs, "but he hasn't said a word to me since I moved in. He's still at the old house, by himself… he wants nothing to do with me – or any of us it would appear."

Just then Scott's phone buzzes and for just a second he thinks it's Stiles, but when he pulls the device out of his pocket and sees Isaac's name on the screen his heart sinks. Scott misses his best friend, as the boy's eyes scan Isaac's text – something about picking up tuxes and buying booze for after prom – he feels a sudden surge of dread.

Scott sighs and then looks up at the adults before him, "I have to go, Isaac and I are getting our tuxes. I'll see ya when I see ya."

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Sipping her hot cocoa, Camilla tries to hide the smirk forming on her lips.

"It's really not that bad, right?" Allison whines, in her palm a hand mirror showing her her recently-done hairdo. "Like, a little hairspray should make it look… calmer…"

Setting her cup down onto the diner table, Camilla folds her hands politely and clears her throat, "Here's the thing… you look like a poodle. Now, I know Susan is very convincing, but you should have heeded my warnings about her… interesting hair designs."

Still staring at her reflection, Allison pouts.

"What am I supposed to do about it? She'll be so disappointed if I change it!" Allison groans, closing the mirror and replacing it in her purple tote.

Camilla shrugs and tosses her own shiny, beautiful hair over her shoulder. She had done her own hair earlier.

"Just do what I did when she tried to do my hair once… Get food in it."

Allison's concerned expression turns into one of confusion, "Um, what?"

"It's easy. I was eating spaghetti prior to whatever event I had to go to, and with one little dip in the marinara sauce, I had to wash my hair and start all over."

Allison shakes her head, "Okay one, why were you eating spaghetti before a dance and two, how am I supposed to get  _my_  hands on spaghetti."

"Wow, you are making this very difficult. And don't judge my pasta-eating habits. Just use… Pie! They have some here! A little dip in some whipped cream and coming home in tears is bound to give you the opportunity to not look like a poodle."

Allison sighs loudly and leans back in her seat.

"Call the waiter over…" she mumbles after a moment, crossing her arms. Allison listens to Camilla order the pie and opens her mouth once again.

"Are you sure you're okay with me going to your prom?" she asks, although she had asked the question many times before.

"Yes, Allison. Isaac and I are not together and haven't been for a long time. If I wasn't okay with it, I would've said something. Besides, I'm glad he's taking you over some bimbo junior that would try to blow him every six seconds."

Allison nods slowly, hearing the same answer she had gotten since she mentioned to Camilla that Isaac had asked her. In all honesty, she was glad to be going to prom, considering it was technically her senior prom, too.

"And, I'll have Nolan with me, and that kid can make me forget about anything upsetting," Camilla adds on.

"Yeah, probably because you both get drunk almost every time you are together, no wonder your memory slips," Allison mutters jokingly.

Camilla shrugs with a smile, "Tequila buddies for life."

Allison shakes her head and looks up at the waiter who arrives with her pie. As he sets it down in front of her, she looks up at Camilla, who nods knowingly.

"Ooh, did I tell you Isaiah is going to be there?" Camilla waggles her eyebrows as Allison chooses the perfect amount of hair to be assaulted by whipped cream.

"Oh boy, that's going to be interesting," Allison says slowly. Isaiah is a student teacher, soon to be fulltime teacher at BHHS, and he is currently Camilla's new love interest.

"Don't hate the player hate the game," Camilla laughs, watching as Allison dips her brown locks into the white cream.

"Uhhhhhh, why did I have to say yes to Susan," Allison whines again, her hair now sticky and gross.

Before she can answer, Camilla's eyes go wide as she receives a text.

"What? What is it?" Allison chirps.

Camilla soon frowns and puts her phone back on the table, "It was a text from Erica, I thought it would be her going into labor but she just told me to have fun at prom, what a bitch."

Allison chuckles, "Telling you to have fun at prom is being a bitch?"

"In this case yes, because I told her I would be eyeing my phone 24/7 for a text from her or Derek about the baby. She could have snapchatted me or something. Evil blonde pregnant woman."

Again, Allison laughs, "Let's just be happy Derek isn't in jail."

Camilla nods ever so slightly, "Yeah, I wonder if they'll ever find out who killed that chick. Knowing Beacon Hills it was probably some supernatural bullshit that's just going to piss me off."

"I doubt it…" Allison says. "The cops say it could have been an accident, they do happen you know."

Both are silent for a moment and Allison looks down at her uneaten pie.

"So what the hell am I supposed to do with this?"

\-------

Lydia walks up the path to Stiles' house, her heels clicking on the concrete. The boy's black tux is in her hands, along with her purse and cell, and when she rings the doorbell a sudden cloud of annoyance comes over her.

It doesn't take long for that cloud to disappear once Stiles' opens the door and smiles at her.

"Hey," the boy remarks.

Lydia smiles back and leans forward, planting a kiss on her boyfriend's lips, "You're lucky that we put down both our numbers when you rented this tux because they were ready to take it off hold when I went in and got it."

"Sorry about that," Stiles says as he moves out of the way so Lydia can come into the house, "prom kinda snuck up on me."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

"It did!"

Lydia brushes her hair behind her ear and then asks, "Have you talked to your father yet?"

Stiles rolls his eyes, "No."

"Have you talked to Scott yet?"

" _Hell_  no."

"Why do you have to be so stubborn?"

"Why do you have to be so beautiful?"

Lydia rolls her eyes now, "Loving you is exhausting."

Stiles shrugs and kisses her on the cheek, "It's worth it through, right?"

"I'll get back to you on that one," Lydia replies quickly, "so pictures with Camilla and Nolan are at 5:00 and we need to be at the dinner thing the Prom Moms are putting on by 5:45. Do not be late or that whole 'love' thing is going to go right out the window."

"Can't believe I'm dating Promzilla."

"I'm leaving you – my nails aren't going to do themselves," Lydia says, "I'm going to ignore that Promzilla comment because having a date for tonight is more important to me than putting you in your place. Call your father, goodbye."

"Not going to happen, goodbye," Stiles retorts just as the front door shuts.

\-------

Camilla and Nolan walk arm in arm towards the hotel prom is being held at. Camilla's pale pink dress matches perfectly with Nolan's bowtie and charcoal gray suit. With her train held in her free hand, Camilla makes it up the stairs with little dress difficulty.

The two walk into the lobby and over to the check-in table.

"Nolan, look who it is," Camilla whispers into the boy's ear, nudging him with her elbow.

Nolan makes an approving noise as he spots Isaiah, whose eyes are currently glued on Camilla, who is acting like she had no idea he was there.

Clearing his throat and standing up from his seat Isaiah calls out, "I can help you guys over here."

Camilla pretends to have just finally noticed him and smiles, walking over his way with Nolan still on her arm.

"The tickets are under Cam—"

"Camilla Argent, I know your name," Isaiah smiles, his eyes smiling too. "And your boyfriend's name?"

"Oh, he's not my boyfriend," Camilla reveals, much to Isaiah's delight.

"Yeah, I'm gay. Like, so gay. And my name is Nolan Hayes, " Nolan chimes in, causing Isaiah to glance over at him for the first time.

"Oh, sorry. My mistake," Isaiah says, flipping through the pages in his hands. "Ah, here you are. Okay, you're good to go. Have fun in there."

As Camilla and Nolan make their way around the table, Camilla says to the man, "If you ever get bored out here, I'd be more than happy to show you a good time."

Before he can respond, Camilla turns back around and walks with Nolan into the ballroom.

Immediately, the theme of Fire and Ice is clear. Each chaperone is wearing red, with a small, blueish-white snowflake pinned on their chests. Special lighting cast red light on one side of the room, and blue on the other. Icicles and flames are incorporated everywhere.

"Not too shabby," Camilla nods, taking in her surroundings.

"Yeah, pretty cool. Wanna try and spike the punch?" Nolan asks curiously.

"Duh, why do you think I have a flask hidden under my dress."

"Oh, Camilla, you're so much more fun than Jackson would ever be at prom," Nolan sighs as the two find a table to put down their things.

"Speaking of that sad sack of lamesauce, where is he tonight?"

Nolan snorts, "He's not coming."

Camilla notices the hurt on Nolan's face, but doesn't address it. "Thank God, he would probably do things like stop us from spiking the drinks and making sure I don't flash anyone. Boring."

Nolan smiles and holds out his hand, "Shall we begin our shenanigans?"

"I would be delighted," Camilla replies, grabbing his hand and smiling brightly.

\-------

Violet shoves her hand into her small, purple clutch, her fingers in search of her lipstick. Once she feels the familiar shape of the stick, she pulls it out in victory. Next to her, her friend Layla touches up her own eyeliner.

Violet peers at herself in the bathroom mirror, bringing the uncapped lipstick towards her lips for a renewal of color.

"So, have you decided yet?" Layla asks casually while smudging the corners of her eyes.

"Decided on what?" Violet responds casually, although she knows exactly what Layla is referring to.

"If you're going to bang Scott tonight, duh," Layla scoffs, rolling her eyes. Violet smiles innocently.

"Oh, yeah, that. I told him tonight is the night," she says coolly, replacing her lipstick in her clutch and turning to face Layla.

Her friend's eyes shine, almost as bright as her red locks as she responds, "You dirty whore. I want details. Stamina, pace, fulfillment, length…"

Violet laughs at her friend's request, though she probably would end up telling her everything. Layla was a very convincing person, and since coming to Beacon Hills High School, the only person besides Scott who cared to get to know her.

Startling both girls, a toilet flushes from one of the stalls, and the swish of a dress signals that the two are not alone. Violet's heart stops for a moment as she hears the unlatching of one of the door's locks.

Much to Violet's dismay, the girl who steps out is anything but an innocent random girl who would ignore the conversation she just overheard. It was Allison.

Immediately, Violet is met with an icy stare from her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend. Allison moves towards the sink with grace and confidence, and Violet suddenly has an overwhelming urge to leave.

Grabbing her clutch from the counter, she hurries out of the bathroom, brushing past Layla who hadn't yet put two and two together. Shaking her head, Layla grabs her own purse and follows her friend out.

Allison is left alone in the bright fluorescent lights, staring at herself in the mirror as she absentmindedly washes her hands. Her red lips begin to quiver.

"Do not cry, Allison," she mutters to herself. The conversation about Scott and his new girlfriend was definitely not something she was ready for.

Shutting off the water, Allison does her best to focus on keeping her dripping hands away from the red satin of her dress. It is the least she can do to keep her mind off of Scott and Violet and what they may or may not be doing later.

Before she can let herself breakdown, another pair of girls step into the bathroom, talking loudly about how one of their dates touched their boob during the limo ride.

\-------

Scott walks around the enormous Daribon house that is pounding with music. The boy has a beer in his hand and repeatedly bumps into various class members. The majority of people are drunk or high or on their way to being there. Scott sighs as he finds the staircase and sits down.

"Here he is," Stiles says, his words slightly slurred, "my step-werewolf!"

Scott smirks up at the boy, "How ya doin' Stiles?"

"I'd be a helluva lot better if our parents weren't shackin' up!"

"They aren't shacking up, Stiles, they love each other. They're together, they aren't a couple of horny teenagers, they're adults and they love each other and you need to get used to it because seeing them together every day –  _happy_  – it makes it seem like they're both in it for the long haul."

Stiles laughs, "What the hell do you know about the long haul, Scott McCall? Your first girlfriend  _ever_  died and you brought her back from the dead only to dump her ass because you couldn't handle her devotion and now Violet? Four months together, after she transferred schools, and you two have only been on three actual, real life, romantic dates. Long haul my ass."

"You're being a dick, Stiles."

"Says the biggest dick in all of Beacon Hills, maybe even California," Stiles shouts.

Scott stands up and puts a hand on Stiles' shoulder, "Okay, you're drunk and you.. you don't mean this so why don't we just go outside and get some fres-"

But Scott's words are cut short when Stiles brings his fist around, hitting Scott right in the jaw. To the werewolf the hit barely even stings, but to Stiles it feels like his hand has just been put through a meat grinder.

"Shit," Stiles says with a sharp inhale, "shit, shit, shit that was dumb. Shit."

"God, Stiles, are you… do you want me to take you to the ER?"

Stiles shakes his head, "I want you to kiss my ass," the boy spits before walking away from Scott, clutching his hand to his chest all the while.

Across the house Allison stares in shock having just witness Stiles deck his once best friend. It's as Allison is distracted that a tall blonde girl comes barreling towards the huntress with a solo cup in her hand. 

"SORRY!" the girl yips.

"Yeah, it's fine, don't worry about it," Allison reassures the drunken teen who accidentally bumped into her and sent her right hip directly into the hard wood of a banister.

"SeriouslyIdidn'tmeanitI'm—OhmygoshBrettHIIIIIII!" the girl slurs, her attention drawn to a jock who wraps his arm around the stumbling girl's waist.

"Don't rape her," Allison snaps rudely, walking away from the disaster.

The party was full of life and laughter and all Allison felt was annoyance. She wanted nothing more than to wipe off all of her makeup and to go to bed.

Suddenly, a cold hand grabs her shoulder, causing her to spin around, ready to spew rage at her perpetrator. When she spots a familiar redhead, the words fade from her mind.

"I was looking for you! You just disappeared!" Lydia says over the loud music, tucking a strand of curled hair behind her ear.

"Yeah well excuse me for not wanting to watch my prom date fall on his ass every five seconds," Allison snarls. "He's a werewolf, how in the hell does he get so drunk?"

Lydia shrugs, her eyes scanning the room, "He drinks a lot. Like, enough to kill our whole senior class. It's actually quite impressive."

Allison rolls her eyes, irritation radiating off of her.

"Yeah, well, you're not drinking right? Do you mind giving him a ride home? Because I honestly don't think I can stand being here another second with all of these inebriated idiots."

"Sure, I can take him…" Lydia says quietly, unsure of how to respond to Allison's attitude.

"See ya," Allison huffs, brushing past Lydia and heading for the door. Lydia watches her leave, her black tank top flowing around her as she hurries through the crowd.

\-------

Jackson steps into the Daribon residence with an incomparable elegance. No other eighteen year old in the house could ever dream of being as smooth and cunning as Jackson was naturally. Absently, the boy tugs on the sleeve of his navy blue button down shirt as his eyes scan the entrance of the house for Nolan.

As the werewolf weaves through the sea of teens he finally spots Nolan, sitting next to Camilla doing shots of tequila on the coffee table. The two are laughing and laughing as though they were literally drinking giggle juice. Camilla quickly refills the shot glasses and the pair throws back another round. Jackson reaches them much sooner than he had thought he would.

"Nolan," the boy says, placing a hand on his shoulder.

The auburn haired Nolan turns around, a wide smile spreading across his face, "Jackson!"

Jackson smiles tensely and then asks, "Can we talk for a second?"

Nolan nods and stands up, saying, "Don't finish without me," to Camilla before following Jackson out of the living room, into the foyer, and eventually up the stairs and into Roxy's bedroom. Nolan is feeling his last shot of tequila with violent force and puts a hand onto a tall dresser by the bedroom door to steady himself.

"So what's up?" Nolan asks as Jackson walks over to the bed and sits.

"We have a problem," Jackson answers.

"We do?"

"Yes."

"What's the problem?"

"Us. You."

"Me? I'm the problem?"

Jackson runs a hand through his perfectly mussed hair, "It's not just you, it's Camilla…"

"You're having a problem with me having a friend outside of you? Is that the situation? Because honestly Jackson, that seems more like a you problem," Nolan quips.

"You just spend all your time with her anymore. It's you two together always. The last three times I've slept over at your house I wound up waking up to find Camilla in the bed with us. She texts you while we're doing stuff and you say 'pause' so you can answer her."

"I only pause when it's an emergency."

"You still do it. The two of you have this weird bond all of a sudden and it's… I don't know…"

Nolan shakes his head, "We're close."

"You're  _too_  close."

With a sigh Nolan says, "You are always turning away from me because I take an interest in someone other than you. You left me for Fitz when I started visiting my mom at Eichen House and now you're ready to walk away because I've finally found my pers-"

"Your person," Jackson finishes, "yeah, Camilla is your person. I get it. There isn't a single person in the senior class who doubts that she's your freaking person."

Nolan rolls his eyes, "I can't keep doing this. You are not the white hot center of my universe. You are not the sun."

"I'm not the sun?" Jackson scoffs.

"No,  _you_  are not the sun. I am. I'm the sun and you can go suck it."

Jackson shakes his head, "I'm sick of fighting with you."

"So what are you saying then?"

"I'm saying that this isn't what I thought it was. Last summer I was so sure that you were it for me, that you were what I wanted but… the more time I spend away from you, knowing that you're with Camilla –that you'd rather be with her than me most of the time… it's… it's either her or me."

"Seriously?" Nolan laughs, "You're giving me an ultimatum? Seriously?"

There's a moment of silence in the room as the two boys take in everything that has been said.

"Well guess what Jackson, I'm picking me," Nolan finally spits out before storming out of the room, slamming the door hard behind him.

\-------

"I feel AWESOME!" Isaac yells out as Lydia struggles to keep the boy on his feet. She leads him towards the living room, also known as the unwritten place to put drunk people who were ready to pass out.

"I'm sure you do, Isaac, but right now you need to lay down and shut up," Lydia says knowingly, trying ease him onto on of the couches that was unoccupied.

"Yeah yeah yeah," he responds, his hand flopping in the air. "Just take me home."

Lydia takes a deep breath, "I told you, I need to find Nolan and Camilla, because we are all going home together."

Isaac groans, turning onto his side and shutting his eyes.

"You said it was okay to ride home with them, right?" Lydia asks, trying to prevent future drama.

"Who?" Isaac asks, keeping his eyes shut.

"Nolan and Camilla," she repeats.

"Oh, Camilla. She looked great tonight? Don't you think? I didn't tell her, but she was too busy flirting with everyone."

Lydia sits down on the edge of the couch, sighing.

"Isaac, you and Camilla are broken up, she can talk to whoever she wants, and you can't get upset about it. If you do, maybe you should reconsider the break up…" she says to him softly.

Isaac groans again and snuggles his face into the couch. Lydia waits for a response, but he says nothing else.

"Okay, I'm going to go look for them and Scott, I'll be back soon…"

Isaac nods ever so slightly, and Lydia turns to go.

Upstairs Camilla sits in the bathtub with a glass of water while Nolan lies on the cold bathroom floor.

"It's not us, it's him," Nolan says, still intoxicated even though he had been puking for the better part of twenty minutes, "him and his stupid, insecure… jackass."

"You're drunk," Camilla sighs before taking a big drink of water.

"You are too. We both are. Why am I so much drunker than you are?"

"Oh, sweet innocent Nolan," Camilla laughs, "I'm a pro and you are still a rookie."

Nolan is suddenly up and on his hands and knees, crawling to the toilet, "I think I'm gonna puke again."

Camilla quickly covers her eyes as Nolan braces himself to hurl – only to realize that he doesn't need to. The boy gets onto his butt and leans against the wall saying, "False alarm."

"The problem is love."

"No, the problem is tequila."

"I love Isaac, I love him. I still do and I'm always going to and I made one mistake and he just leaves. He leaves me and I keep telling myself that I don't need him and that I need to move on but I can't. I can't, I want to but I can't," Camilla concludes with a deep sigh.

"I feel empty," Nolan tells her.

"So do I," Camilla agrees.

"Camilla, I threw up at a party. I'm that guy aren't I?"

The dark haired girl shakes her head, "You aren't that guy. We're in the upstairs bathroom and everyone is downstairs – the chances of anyone knowing that you're a vomiting disaster are very unlikely."

"Thank you."

"Anytime."

"I think I want to go home," Nolan confides.

Camilla stands up in the tub and flips her hair over her shoulder, "Let's go find our DD."

\-------

It's Scott who makes the first real move when he stands up and begins to unbutton his short sleeved shirt. He can hear Violet's heart flutter when she sees his shirtless body and suddenly all he has left in him is animal instinct.

Violet is quick to pull her shirt off, rushing up to the boy she starts running her hands down his muscular body. Her breathing is rigid as she says, "You're beautiful."

Scott smirks, "I was thinking the same thing about you."

The two kiss heatedly while Scott begins to unbutton the girl's light blue bra. As his hands work on that, Violet fiddles with the button on Scott's jeans.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Scott asks suddenly, grabbing Violet's small, soft hands with his own.

The girl kisses him and pulls back with a smile on her face, "More than want."

Suddenly Scott is kissing down Violet's neck now creeping closer and closer to her breasts, Violet's long fingers are weaving themselves in Scott's chocolate hair. She throws her head back as a gasp escapes her lips.

Downstairs Lydia makes her way up to Roxy who is leaning against the doorjamb to her large dining room. The red haired Lydia taps the other girl on the shoulder and smiles.

"Have you seen Scott?" Lydia asks, speaking loudly over the Kid Cudi song that was pounding throughout the house.

"Crap-a-doodle," Roxy proclaims, "hang on Lydz, let me ask Seneca and Mary if they've seen him."

Roxy walks over to Seneca, a tall blonde girl who probably weighed 72 pounds soaking wet and Mary a short curly haired blonde with a nearly permanent smile.

"He's in Roxy's mom and dad's room," Seneca laughs loudly.

"He was headed there with his delicate little flower," Mary adds with a giggle.

Roxy sighs, "Basically they're fucking in my parents' bed. That's what's happening."

"Was he sober…ish?" Lydia asks, running a hand through her hair.

"Was he sober? Yes." Mary replies.

"Was he horny? Hell yes." Seneca jokes.

Lydia sighs, "Awesome, okay, well in that case – Roxy I'm taking Camilla, Stiles, Nolan, and Isaac home. Thanks for having us. It was a real… it's been just as nifty as I thought it was going to be."

"Glad to have you," Roxy says with a slightly contemptuous smirk. The girl still harbored some hard feelings towards Lydia for stealing Stiles away from her last summer, but she knew deep down Lydia meant well.

"Camilla, Nolan – help me get the boys out of the house please," Lydia asks motioning to Isaac and Stiles who were nearly falling over themselves.

"Christ, is Stiles blacked out?" Roxy asks.

Just as the words leave the girl's mouth, Stiles rushes to a potted plant and throws up in it. Lydia winces and Nolan turns away in order to prevent himself from vomiting as well while Camilla and Isaac both laugh.

"Nolan, remember how you asked if you were 'that guy?' Well, I think it's safe to say Stiles is."

Lydia shakes her head, "A night to remember my ass."

\-------

Lydia puts her car into park and looks back at Isaac who was resting his face against one of the windows.

"Isaac, we're at the loft…" she says to him. "Do you need some help inside?"

Isaac lifts his head groggily, the alcohol beginning to wear off.

"What?" he says, his words sounding odd due to his mouth being dry.

Camilla rolls her eyes and shoves her door open, "I'll just help him."

Lydia watches her brunette friend pull open Isaac's door and help him out of the car. Camilla snakes her arm around Isaac's waist to keep them steady and makes her way toward the building she hadn't been to in a long time.

"Camilla…" Isaac mumbles, his walking still a bit clumsy. "I don't need your help."

"Isaac, if I let you go, you're going to fall on your ass, werewolf or not. I know how drunk people work. Besides, you drank the capacity of an ocean tonight," she responds, her grip tightening.

Despite his protests, Isaac does nothing to get out of Camilla's hold, and eventually rests his head on her shoulder.

"I remember this perfume," he says softly, right as they make it to the elevator.

Camilla says nothing, her lips pursed as she reaches out to hit the right button.

"I remember a lot, but it's nothing compared to the real thing…"

The elevator dings open, and Camilla doesn't respond again, dragging Isaac forward.

The two stand in an awkward silence, Isaac still leaning on Camilla for support.

As the doors open on Isaac's floor, he speaks up again, "I wish you didn't make me break up with you?"

"Excuse me?" Camilla responds finally, appalled.

"You just, I don't know… I felt like I had no choice," he mumbles as they walk towards the loft door.

"I am not talking about this right now Isaac. You have barely spoken to me in months and I think this conversation deserves to be a sober one."

Camilla twists the handle open and pushes the door forward.

"I'm just saying, I didn't want to do it…"

Biting the inside of her cheek, Camilla gets Isaac to his couch and lets him go.

"That's funny, if you didn't want to, don't you think we would be back together by now?"

Isaac looks up at her, his head spinning.

"Goodbye, Isaac," she says with no emotion, turning to leave.

Minutes later she gets back into Lydia's car and slumps into her seat.

"Tonight sucks and I just want to go to bed," she says, shutting her eyes tightly. Immediately after the words leave her mouth, her phone chimes.

"I swear to God, if it's Isaac telling me more bullshit about our—HOLY SHIT."

Lydia jumps at the outburst, her eyes opening wide.

"What? What is it?" she stammers, her hands tightening on the steering wheel.

"Erica is having her baby! They just got to the hospital!" Camilla squeals.

\-------

 


	38. New Kid in Town (5x02)

The doorbell is ringing and Roxy Daribon wants to throw up.

Sitting on the bathroom floor in front of the toilet the girl is unsure if she can get up to answer the door. The very thought of walking down the stairs makes her stomach turn and her head hurt. Her hazel eyes are dry as she blinks hard and stands up.

Roxy catches a glance of herself in the mirror and winces. She looks like hell, with bloodshot eyes underlined with dark circles. Her hair is a disaster, so she quickly pulls it into a ponytail before exiting the lavatory and goes into the hallway, making a beeline straight to the winding staircase.

The doorbell rings again.

Swallowing the newest bout of nausea, Roxy carefully walks down the steps and lands on the tiled floor of the grand foyer. Her feet make a sticking sound as she reaches the door and pulls it open to reveal a tall man who smiles at her.

"Can I help you?" She asks, ignoring the nagging feeling of this hangover.

"I'd really love if you could," the man replies, "I was on my way out of town… ready for a change of scenery and all that and as fate would have it – my car broke down. It's seven in the morning right now and your house was the only one with a light on."

"You were leaving town?" Roxy asks as a sickening feeling washes over – different from the alcohol-induced sickness she was currently facing.

The man nods his head, "Yes, I was. I thought maybe I was done here… but right now I get the feeling that maybe Beacon Hills is exactly where I need to be. Can you believe it? This Podunk little town?"

"What can I help you with  _exactly_ ," Roxy finally demands, "because I don't know if you can tell by my current appearance or not, but I've got a date with my toilet."

The man snickers, "I guess maybe you can't help me, maybe that was a bad way to start this whole interaction. I should probably just get to the point: I'm gonna kill you."

All the color drains from Roxy's face, "W-what?"

"Hopefully that doesn't seem too harsh. Death in general is gonna be harsh, I know, but here's hoping that you're the type of intellectual girl who can accept the things which you cannot change. And I see your face right now, and you're gonna try and beg and plead," the man says as he produces a hunters knife from his coat pocket, "and I would advise you to do that, because the more you beg me not to cut out your lungs and hang them from the chandelier… the more I want to do it."

As the man wraps his hand around Roxy's throat and forces his way into her house, the girl gasps out, "No… please…"

"That's what I like to hear," the man smirks as he plunges the knife into Roxy's gut, "oh damn, I missed your lungs. Oh well, guess I'm gonna have to play surgeon."

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

"So you and Jackson are done?" Stiles asks Nolan as the walk down the hall toward drama class.

Nolan sighs, "I guess… I mean, it doesn't seem like he and I are going to be driving in his Porsche into the sunset after Saturday night. I didn't talk to him at all Sunday and if he and I weren't in two of the same classes I probably wouldn't be seeing him today. He's just so focused on it being just us. Just him and me. Because according to that lunatic the only person I'm allowed to care about is him."

"Well good for you," Stiles replies, "Jackson is a dick. Let's not forget how badly he screwed you over at the start of the year."

"Oh, like Lydia screwed you over?"

"Ouch."

Nolan looks down at his feet, "Sorry, that was mean. Can we just drop this? I don't want to talk about my self-centered boyfriend anymore than I have to."

"It's dropped," Stiles answers, "have you seen Baby Hale yet?"

"I went with Allison and Camilla yesterday afternoon. Her name is Francesca by the way," Nolan tells his friend as the walk into the classroom.

"Francesca Grace," Camilla tells Ms. Palmer as the older woman looks at the picture of newborn on Camilla's phone. "She's so cute and soft and cuddly. I love her so much already."

"She is such a cutie pie," Ms. Palmer agrees, "hope her daddy is ready to beat the boys off with a stick because he's got a future heartbreaker on his hands."

Camilla laughs, "Those boys are gonna have to worry about Godmom Camilla too."

Nolan smiles at Camilla who smiles back at him as he and Stiles take a seat toward the back of the room. They watch as more of their classmates enter the room, Jackson and Isaac come strutting in together and when the werewolves spot their respective exes the both go stony and proceed to their seats.

"He's being a little silly," Lydia says, appearing out of nowhere to sit down beside Stiles, "I get that you guys aren't on the best terms right now, but we're all in the McCall Pack. Wouldn't kill him to be civil."

Scott walks into the classroom next, talking to a girl named Sarah. The girl quickly tells Scott she'll talk to him later before hurrying over to her seat and as Scott stares back at Stiles he sits down in the front row beside Camilla.

"I'm obsessed with her," Camilla tells the werewolf.

Occupied by his own thoughts Scott raises an eyebrow and asks, "Who now?"

"Francesca? The cutest baby in all of Beacon Hills… maybe even the world?"

"Right, right," Scott smiles crookedly, "she is pretty adorable."

"Alright brothers and sisters," Ms. Palmer begins as the bell rings, "who is ready to perform their monologue?"

\-------

"He won't even sit with us," Nolan says spitefully as he takes a bite out of a celery stick.

Lydia takes a sip of her water and shrugs, "Well, when he and I broke up he left the country. If Jackson Whittemore is anything, it's a coward."

"I'd say he's a pussy," Camilla interjects. "Honestly, he was intimidated by Nolan and I's relationship – there isn't a single fiber in Nolan's body that is attracted to me, because if there was he would be staring at my boobs ninety-eight percent of the time like the rest of the boys at this school."

"It's the emotional aspect that Jackson is intimidated by," Isaac says suddenly, "for him, if Nolan isn't emotionally invested in him completely he feels out of control. He needs the emotional tether or else he feels like he has nothing. I'm not sure Jackson has ever had anything like that."

"Excuse you," Lydia scoffs as she takes a bite of her ham sandwich.

Stiles sits with his mouth agape, "Damn dude, that was deep."

"What are we talking about?" Scott asks as he sits down with his friends and just as soon as Scott's butt makes contact with the seat, Stiles gets up and walks away.

"Does Stiles have an emotional intimidation?" Lydia asks bitterly.

Isaac shrugs, "I think it's possible."

"So glad he's my best friend," Scott mumbles as he takes a bite of his cheeseburger.

"I shouldn't have to coddle Jackson," Nolan sighs, "I should be able to have deep, meaningful relationships with people other than him. Camilla is my best friend, she and I are going to have a deep connection it just comes with the title – and if he can't accept that well then that's his issue, not mine."

"Well, as your best friend I would just like to say that I think Spongebob SquareJaw needs to grow a pair," Camilla smirks.

"Real mature," Isaac comments sarcastically.

Camilla rolls her eyes as she feels a pang in her chest, "Eat me, Isaac."

"Look at him, talking to Danny. He's probably telling him all about what a scary, damaged dump truck I am," Nolan says angrily.

"I get the feeling that they're just talking," Scott admits as he peels his banana.

Across the crowded lunch room sit Danny and Jackson with a few other members of the lacrosse team. The square jawed Jackson pulls pieces off of his turkey sandwich and tosses them on the table as he listens to all Nolan is saying with his werewolf abilities.

Danny sighs, "He's kind of got a point, Jackson… you do have a tendency to need constant adoration."

"Whose side are you on again?" Jackson asks harshly.

"Yours," Danny reassures him, "but I'm just saying that maybe instead of harboring this hostility you should be looking at the plus side."

"What plus side?"

"The plus side that is this: now you can go out and find someone who will devote themselves to you completely. Clearly what you need Nolan can't provide – and even though the physical connection is there you need something more. You need someone who will consume you like a flame… ya know? Boy or girl, you need somebody to dedicate themselves to you and only you."

Jackson bites his lip, "But Nolan is…"

"He's what?"

"Irresistible."

"Look, Jackson, he's going to Dartmouth next year and you're going to Syracuse to play lacrosse… you would've probably broken up sometime between graduation and move-in day anyway. Now it's done and over with – but you can't just ignore all your friends because of the breakup."

"You're my friend," Jackson reminds the boy, "you're my best friend. Those people… they're just the pack. I'm not so sure they would want anything to do with me if I weren't a werewolf. I don't… I don't know, I just don't need them for the companionship."

"You're a little bit of a dick, you know that right?"

"But I'm your best friend."

Danny rolls his eyes, "Yes, you are my bestie for the restie."

"Nolan picking Camilla over me… that was just stupid," Jackson scoffs, "I'm way better than that Buffy-Wannabe."

"I thought you said Nolan's exact words were 'I'm picking me'? Meaning that he chose himself over you."

"Again, whose side are you on?"

\-------

Isaac steadies his bat, his eyes on the pitcher in front of him. With a windup, the pitcher chucks the ball at Isaac, and he tell it's a good pitch… he has to swing.

He twists his torso, his arms swinging the bat with a hard force, and a loud clink sounds, proving that Isaac got a hit. His legs automatically move him towards first base, and he runs through, the ball nowhere near where he is. After a signal from his coach, Isaac stays at first.

"That was great Isaac! Head back to the dugout, Paulson, you're next!" the coach yells out, reading from a clipboard. Isaac nods and struts over to the dugout where other players were messing around until it was their turn to hit.

"Sweet smack, Lahey," a kid named Trey says to Isaac as he steps inside the dugout, clapping a hand on his shoulder.

"I think I've seen better," a voice says from behind a couple guys. Isaac crinkles his eyes in confusion. He knows his hit was good, what jackass was trying to piss him off?

Once a couple of the guys shuffle around, Isaac spots the perpetrator - Isaiah, Camilla's newest interest - Isaac rolls his eyes.

"Yeah, well last I heard you were only an assistant coach, so as long as Mulbrook is happy, your opinion means nothing to me," Isaac chuckles, reaching down into his bag to pull out a bottle of water.

To himself, Isaac thinks,  _Does Isaiah know about my history with Camilla? Is that why he's being an ass? Or is he really just one of_ those _guys?_

"Well, my opinion means something to some people, I think you can guess who I'm talking about," Isaiah smirks, his eyes blazing at Isaac, daring him to bring Camilla up.

Isaac turns his back to him and walks away muttering, "We'll just see about that…"

\-------

Isaac sniffs his armpit one last time, making sure his excessive application of deodorant covered up his post-baseball stench. He hadn't had time to go home and shower before visiting hours at the hospital were up.

He looks up and spots Erica and Derek's room just to the right and braces himself.

Right as he walks in the room, he sees Derek sitting in a chair besides Erica's bed, and as he gets farther into the room, he spots Erica. Both werewolves are anticipating his arrival and their faces light up as he emerges.

Derek stands and moves over to Isaac, who offers out a hand in congratulations.

"Isaac, man, thank you for coming," Derek says, shaking his hand and patting the boy on the back.

"Of course, congrats to both of you. Erica, you look hot as ever," he says with a smile.

Rolling her eyes, Erica laughs, "Just be glad you didn't have to see me during delivery… trying to push while trying not to turn into a werewolf took some skills. Thankfully, Derek was there to take some of my pain away."

Derek, already moving back to his seat, grabs Erica's hand and smiles, "Anything for you babe, and out beautiful baby girl."

"Speaking of," Isaac mentions, rocking back and forth on his heels, anxious, "Where is the little princess?"

An odd look passes over Erica's face and her eyes shift over to the corner of the room still blocked by the wall of the hallway into the room. She looks back at Isaac and gives him a tight smile.

"She's over here," she gestures with a small jerk of her thumb towards the corner.

Isaac steps farther into the room as he says, "Oh, is she sleeping or something… I can come back…"

Just then, as the hallways ends, Isaac realizes why Erica was acting funny.

"Oh," he says as his eyes fall upon Camilla, who sits in a chair similar to Derek's, the baby nestled in her arms. "Hi…"

"I can go, if you want, I've been here a while so-"

Interrupting her, Isaac takes a step closer and says, "No, it's fine. Stay, please."

Camilla eyes him, making sure he's being serious. Once she spots the sincerity in his eyes, she relaxes and snuggles the baby even closer.

"You can, um, sit here if you want," Camilla offers, her eyes drifting over to the empty chair next to her. Isaac eyes it reluctantly, but after a moment he sits down.

Camilla turns her attention back to the baby, who is currently dozing off, her tiny eyes shut tight.

Isaac, too, watches the baby, his face softening as he stares at her small face.

"She's beautiful," he says, his voice barely a whisper.

"Isn't she?" Camilla responds, a smile forming on her lips. Derek and Erica pass a look between themselves as they watch the two interact with the baby.

"Do you want to hold her?" Camilla asks, her eyes turning to Isaac. He looks at her, unsure of himself. She gives an encouraging nod and lifts the baby close to him. Before he makes a move, he looks over at Derek and Erica, silently asking for their permission.

"C'mon Isaac, you won't break her," Erica jokes.

Slowly, Camilla stands up and leans over to put the baby in Isaac's arms. The boy tenses as Camilla removes her hands and fully hands over the baby.

"She's so small," he laughs lightheartedly, one of his fingers lightly brushing against her cheek.

With that, the baby makes a cute noise a squirms around in Isaac's arms, her blue eyes opening slowly.

"Hey, pretty girl," Isaac coos as the baby looks up at him. "What was her name?"

Erica and Derek smile at one another, "It's Francesca Grace Hale," Derek replies proudly, squeezing Erica's hand as he speaks.

"It's beautiful," Camilla tells them, "she's beautiful. Just like her mother. How's it feel to be a MILF, Erica?"

"It feels awesome not to have to pee every ten minutes," she replies with a satisfied look on her face.

"And your boobs are huge!" Camilla adds.

"Oh my god, Camilla, seriously?" Erica's face reddens, though she laughs as she scolds her friends.

"Hey, I'm not complaining," Derek waggles his eyebrows nonchalantly.

"Okay, enough talk about my chest, thank you," Erica says with a playful fown, pulling her blanket up under her chin.

"Yeah, actually, we have something else to talk to you guys about…" Derek begins, his eyes meeting with Erica's, who nods.

"Ominous…" Camilla says to keep the mood light.

"Well, Derek and I are nowhere near spiritual, and we know you guys aren't either, but we had already decided to ask you and Isaac to be Francesca's god parents…." Erica says slowly, gesturing with her hands, "We want her to be baptized and make her life as normal as possible… considering she has werewolves for parents and she might be one too… and, well, Isaac, Camilla already said yes when we asked her Sunday, so…"

All eyes are on the boy holding the baby, who gulps loudly.

"I mean I guess so, yeah. I don't see why not, I'd do anything for you guys," he says, stammering under the pressure.

Erica smiles brightly, clapping her hands together, "Perfect!"

A small knock comes from the door and in walks a nurse in lavender scrubs, "Sorry to interrupt, but it's time for mommy and baby to get some sleep. It's been a long day," she says sweetly.

Erica pouts, watching as her two friends stand to leave. Isaac moves over to her bedside and carefully hands over Francesca.

"Goodbye sweet angel," Camilla says softly as she caresses Francesca's face one last time.

"Thank you guys for coming, it means a lot," Erica tells them as she stares into her baby's eyes.

"Anything for my favorite MILF," Camilla shrugs. "See you guys soon."

Everyone says their goodbyes and the nurse ushers Camilla and Isaac out the door. Both stand in the hallway awkwardly, unsure of what to do or say next. With no real signal, they both start walking slowly, heading towards the elevator.

"That baby is pretty damn cute," Camilla says, speaking first.

"Well, look at their parents," Isaac chuckles, looking down at the floor.

Camilla opens her mouth to speak again, when a conversation captures her attention.

"…The autopsy said the Daribon girl wasn't raped, but still, I'm surprised she wasn't. Any human being capable of being so cruel to another human being is disgusting. Completely disgusting. That poor girl, it was her prom night too."

The interns speaking quickly brush past Camilla and Isaac, making their rounds. Camilla's arm shoots out and stops Isaac in his tracks.

"Did you hear that?" she whispers loudly. Isaac nods, his eyes wide. "Daribon… That's Roxy's last name… and they talked about prom night? What the hell happened?" Camilla thinks out loud, her mind racing. Quickly she pulls out her phone and looks for any recent news. Her eyes scan the phone and widen.

"Oh my God, Isaac. This article says a teenage girl's body was found late Sunday afternoon… This was posted this morning… Do you think it's… Roxy?"

\-------

Lydia lies on Stiles' bed reading her AP Psychology textbook absently as Stiles drones on about the ongoing issues he is having with his father and Scott. Flipping a red curl over her shoulder Lydia finally looks up from the section on sleep disorders and smiles softly.

"Did you ever think that maybe you should just accept that your dad is dating Melissa?" she asks, cutting Stiles' objection off by saying, "I know that she isn't your mother, but nobody is saying that she has to take your mom's place. And if your dad is happy, isn't that what really matters?"

Stiles sighs, "He's forgetting about her."

"Stiles…"

"He is, Lydia. With every step he takes towards this new life with Melissa the further away he gets from my mom. He already resigned from Sheriff seat and now he's moved in with the McCalls… I bet he calls Scott 'Scotty Boy' or "The Son I Wish I Had.'"

Lydia rolls her eyes, "You're being ridiculous and you know perfectly well that you could settle all of this by just talking to him. And to Scott too. I'm sure they both miss you."

Stiles bites his lip, considering what his girlfriend is suggesting when a wicked idea slips into his head, "You know what would really help me deal with all of this?"

"What's that?"

The boy leans in and kisses the girl. As Lydia lays down on the bed, Stiles rolls on top of her and the kissing turned into a full on makeout. Lydia's hands are tugging at Stiles' shirt, trying hard to get it off until Stiles sits up slightly and removes the shirt himself and watches intently as Lydia unbuttons her shirt to reveal her rose pink bra.

Lydia stares into Stiles' beautiful brown eyes and feels her heart flutter as she thinks about how much she loves him. He's the only boy who has ever known her, the real her. He's the only boy who she didn't have to change herself for. Stiles understood her in a way she knew nobody else did.

Leaning up Lydia reconnects their lips as a moan escapes hers as Stiles grinds into her. The girl grips Stiles' back with her nails as he begins to kiss down her neck, his hands disappear from either side of her face and she feels them now under her skirt, tugging on her matching rose pink panties. In a second the undergarments fly to the floor and Lydia is clawing at Stiles' jeans – when Stiles finally assists her and she hears the pants hit the floor she shuts her eyes.

This is it.

"I love you," Stiles moans as he nibbles on her earlobe.

"I love you too," Lydia gasps as she hooks her fingers into Stiles' boxer briefs.

"Oh my god!" a deep, familiar voice shouts.

"Dad!" Stiles screams, yanking himself off Lydia to cover the two of them in his old blue comforter, "What, uh, w-what are you… I mean I thought that you were, um, well, I mean, I didn't think that you would, uh – what are you doin' here?"

The older Stilinski was frozen at the doorframe, his eyes glued to a poster on Stiles' wall that read 'SPITE' in the Sprite soda font, "I just came over to talk to you… wanted to see if maybe we could, ya know, uh, talk."

Stiles, red faced and glistening with a light covering of sweat nods, "Okay, okay, yeah, okay, um… can I have a minute – Lydia and I were…"

"Stop talking," Lydia commands, red faced as well.

"You two were just…" Stiles' dad begins.

"Studying," Lydia lies, knowing that it is pointless, "we were just studying."

Stiles nods, an embarrassed smirk spreading across his face, "Yeah, studying. So if you could give us a second to, uh, put everything away… I'll meet you down in the kitchen."

"Great idea. Greatest idea I've heard in a long time," Stilinski says with a smile, "I'll meet you down there."

"Meet ya down there," Stiles agrees as he watches intently as his father shuts his bedroom door. As a definite click announces that the door is firmly shut Stiles looks over to Lydia and smiles, "So… wanna finish up?"

Lydia smiles and grabs a pillow, smacking Stiles with it, "I hate you," she laughs.

"Hate you too," Stiles laughs back.

\-------

Nolan sits in his car, his hands gripping the steering wheel for what feels like eternity. His mind is racing as he thinks about Roxy… how could anyone have killed her? Innocent, fun-loving Roxy Daribon. Who could have been so heartless?

The boy blinks away the sting of tears he feels as he open his car door and steps into the night. From where he stands now he can see a light is on in the kitchen.  _The kitchen where my mother killed herself_ , the boy thinks as he shuts the door to his vehicle and heads toward the house, taking everything in – the sound of his shoes on the pavement, the crickets chirping, the cool breeze rustling the trees, even the dog barking down the street.

Nolan hurries up the front porch steps and slips his key into the slot and walks into his home, not bothering to lock the door behind him. Kicking off his shoes the boy lets out a hefty sigh and walks through the dining room and then into the kitchen.

He stops moving when he sees a large man standing in front of the fridge. Nolan's breathing is hitched as he asks, "Who the hell are you?"

The man turns around and smiles at him and for a sliver of a second Nolan thinks he sees Derek. However the man in front of him is certainly not Derek Hale and as he smirks at Nolan the boy feels a sickening feeling wash over him.

"Nolan," Annalise says, coming up behind her little brother, "what are you doing home? I thought you were studying at the library."

"I was… until I caught wind that my study buddy was murdered," Nolan replies. "Care to tell me who this brick wall of a man is before I follow my gut and dial 9-1-1?"

"This is Spencer Seeley," Annalise tells him, "we met a few months ago… and we've been dating."

"Dating?" Nolan questions as he turns around to face Annalise, "You're dating this meathead?"

"This meathead can hear you," the man says, his voice startling Nolan, "when Annalise told me about you she certainly wasn't kidding when she said you were a bit of a piss-ant."

"You called me a piss-ant?"

"Wait, your study buddy was murdered?" Annalise asks, coming back to her brother's previous statement, "That wouldn't be Roxy Daribon would it?"

"Yeah… how do you know that?" Nolan wonders.

Annalise's eyebrows go up as she says, "It's been all over the news tonight. Apparently her murder matches Marin Morell's from back in September and both of those deaths match ones from some murders in Portland last year."

"Do they suspect the same killer?" Spencer asks, as he reaches out and takes two wine glasses from Annalise that Nolan hadn't realized she had been holding.

"It sounds like it," Annalise says as she follows her apparent boyfriend back into the kitchen. Nolan watches hesitantly as Spencer pours a bottle of Merlot into the glasses.

"Care for a glass?" he asks Nolan seductively.

Nolan raises an eyebrow, "I'm underage."

"According to your sister that doesn't stop you from downing tequila shots," Spencer jokes.

"Sounds like my sister needs to learn to shut up."

Annalise glares at her brother as she takes a sip of her wine, after which she slowly says, "I'm sorry about Roxy."

"Thanks, and Annalise do me a favor – next time you bring a boy toy home to play with, let me know so I can make sure that  _I_ don't come home," Nolan says before he turns on his heel and exits the kitchen heading back out to the foyer. The boy is quick to pull on his shoes and looks up just as his sister comes walking toward him.

"Where are you going?" She asks, "Over to Jackson's?"

"Jackson and I are over," he replies as he grabs his keys, "sorry I was so rude to Spencer. If he comes back around I'll be sure to put on my good little brother façade."

\-------

Scott walks up the steps of Ron Argent's house and knocks on the solid oak door. As he stands outside waiting for Camilla his mind wanders over the topic he was here to discuss: Allison and Violet. As strongly as he felt for his current girlfriend, he couldn't shake the feeling that Allison might very well be the one.

The front door swing open then and on the other side stands Allison. The girl smiles at him before she asks, "Scott… what are you doing here?"

"I was, uh, looking for Camilla. I wanted to talk to her," the alpha replies, "is she here?"

Allison shakes her head, "No, she went to go spend more time with Erica and the baby. I never really pegged Camilla for the baby-loving type, but here she goes… surprising me. Guess I missed some development while I was…. Well you know."

Scott winces as he think back to when Allison died and the lengths he had to go through to get her back. His previous mantra of do not kill had gone out the window, but it had been for Allison and she was the love of his life.

 _She still is_ , a voice in Scott's head told him. Scott tried his hardest to swat those thoughts from his mind.

"Did you want to come in?" Allison asks, pulling Scott from his mind, "I know I'm no Camilla, but I might be able to help… if you wanted to talk to me."

Scott feels flustered as he says, "Okay, yeah – yeah, okay."

"Don't sound so enthusiastic, Scott."

The dark haired hunter steps out of the way, allowing Scott to come into Ron, Susan, and Camilla's home. From the looks of things the house is empty leading Scott to ask where Ron and Susan are.

"Oh, Ron went out with one of his buddies from work to see a movie… I think they were seeing  _The Avengers_ ," Allison laughs, "Uncle Ron was always a big fan of the Hulk – my dad told me once that in high school all the guys on the football team actually called Ron 'Hulk.'"

Scott chuckles, "That sounds like Ron, actually, and Susan?"

"She's in the kitchen making dinner," Allison replies coolly.

Allison is quick to take a seat on the cream colored sofa once the two had made their way to the living room. The girl watches as Scott hesitantly follows suit.

So far the interaction was awkward. Unnecessarily awkward. Allison wonders why Scott was treating her like a stranger, like she was the last person Scott wanted to talk to.  _Because you are_ , she tells herself, _He came looking for Camilla and you were the only one here._  She shakes her head and smiles at Scott before she begins speaking.

"So, are you here about Stiles?"

Scott looks at her confusedly, "Stiles?... Oh, you mean because he's not speaking to me?"

"Yes," Allison replies, "or is that not what you're here for?"

 _I'm here to talk about how I'm still in love with you actually_ , Scott thinks while he says, "No. I mean yes, yeah. Stiles and I are having problems and I don't like it. We're going to college in the fall and I don't want to do that when me and my best friend are on the outs."

"Well," Allison smiles, "lets figure out how you can fix things."

\-------

Camilla and Isaac's feet slap against the pavement as they make their way to their vehicles in the hospital parking lot.

"I still can't believe it was Roxy…" Camilla says solemnly.

"We don't know that it was," Isaac tries to reassure her, even though his heart didn't believe what he was trying to convince Camilla of.

"We just saw her is what's cray, God only knows who or what did it this time. Witches, goblins, maybe even – SHIT!"

Isaac stops walking suddenly, Camilla's yell taking him by surprise.

"What? What is it? Are you okay?" he asks, concern filling his face as he places a hand on Camilla's arm.

Camilla sighs angrily and points at her car which was about ten feet away, "My tire. It's flat. You've got to be kidding me."

Realizing the issue, Isaac's werewolf heart slows down and he takes his hand off the brunette's arm, though the feeling of her soft skin is still on his fingertips.

The two make their way closer to the car to inspect the tire.

"Great," Camilla says, bending down to examine the tire. "I don't even have a spare." Her hands fly over the surface of the tire to feel for anything out of the ordinary. Isaac watches as she bends lower and lower her hand trailing towards the bottom of the tire. He focuses hard on keeping his eyes on the tire, not on her body.

"Ouch," she yelps suddenly, pulling her hand back and snapping into an upright position, "What the hell?"

Isaac moves a step closer to look at the hand that Camilla was cradling. He could see bright red blood running down.

"What happened?" he asks, bewildered.

"I think there's a chunk of glass in my tire or something, I don't know, but it cut me. I didn't see it," she inhales sharply at the pain. "It doesn't make sense. I would've known if I ran over glass. Someone must have put this in here."

Angrily, she looks around as though the perpetrator was still lurking in the shadows.

"Camilla, I don't think anyone purposely did this to you, it was probably just an accident. I've seen how you are when you get caught up in a song while driving."

Camilla glares at him, her lips pouting.

"Here, I've got a t-shirt in my car to wrap your hand with, okay?" he offers, gesturing towards his own car which was on the opposite side of the lot.

"I can just… call my dad, and he'll come get me and–"

"Don't be silly, c'mon, it's no big deal. You just need to stop the bleeding, then I can drive you home and you can get your dad to help you out after that, okay?" he offers, a look of kindness on his face.

Camilla contemplates her options as some of her blood drips onto the concrete.

"Fine," she agrees, still clutching her hand to herself, her red shirt getting redder.

The two begin walking, but as Isaac keeps watching Camilla's bleeding hand, he stops, and within a second, his shirt is off and he holds it out to her.

"Isaac, what are you doing?" she asks, bringing her hands up as id to shield herself from the view.

"You should stop the bleeding sooner than later…" he reveals, still offering up the shirt. "Really, Camilla. Like I've said, I have another shirt in the car so you don't have to worry about my six pack distracting you."

Camilla rolls her eyes at his attempt at a joke, "Fine, whatever."

She reaches out to grab the shirt but he pulls it away, saying, "No, let me do it. It'll be easier."

Reluctantly, Camilla holds out her bleeding hand and allows Isaac to wind the shirt around the wound. Camilla's eyes drift up his bare torso, finally resting on his face, which was contorted with concentration at the moment.

Suddenly, he finishes and looks up into her eyes, his hands still on her wounded one. As if frozen in time, the two just look at each other, the memories flowing, seeming to all come back to them. A car alarm beings them back into the real world, and both pairs of eyes look away quickly, Isaac's hands dropping Camilla's.

They begin walking again, this time more awkwardly as the sun fully disappears in the distance.

"You know," Camilla starts, "I probably could have just gone into the emergency room really quickly instead of you having to look like a tool walking around the parking lot with no shirt on."

Isaac chuckles, "Well then you would've had to wait in line behind babies with ear infections and I know you, Camilla, and you would've rather died than do that. Plus, giving you my t-shirt is a lot less expensive than an ER bill."

Smiling ever so slightly, she responds, "I guess you're right."

The rest of their walk is silent except for the sound of their footsteps as they reach Isaac's car.

Once inside, Isaac quickly pulls on a shirt, much to Camilla's relief as well as her dismay. She rests her head against the cool glass of the window and closes her eyes.

"You okay?" Isaac asks as he pulls out of the parking lot, his eyes drifting from the road to Camilla and back. "You didn't lose a lot of blood, right?"

Camilla sighs deeply, and says, "No, I'm just… I don't know…"

Isaac doesn't answer, feeling the same way as she does. The two sit in silence for the short car ride, Isaac's eyes occasionally drifting over to Camilla.

The car eventually comes to a stop in front of the girl's house and Camilla sits up in her seat.

"I don't know if I can get the blood out of this shirt or not but I—"

Isaac brushes her off with the wave of his hand, "Don't worry about it."

Camilla nods, looking down at her hands in her lap.

"I do still have some of your stuff though…" she says slowly, not bothering to look up at him.

"Yeah, I know. I've got some of yours, too."

Nodding, she finally meets his eyes with her own sad ones.

"Well, if you want, you can come in and get it all… Better late than never, right?" she asks, hopeful.

Isaac thinks about the offer and shuts of the engine.

"Yeah, yeah, I will."

The two look at each other, not knowing what to say, not knowing what any of this means.

\-------

"I feel like a creeper, going into Camilla's room without her here…" Scott says as he and Allison step into the bedroom. His eyes roam the familiar walls, having been in the room a handful of times.

"Don't worry, I'm pretty sure she'll be at the hospital for a while," Allison reassures him.

"It sure looks different in here," he mentions, sitting down at the girl's desk continuing to look around.

Allison nods slowly, looking at the bare walls herself, "Yeah, ever since she and Isaac broke up, she took down all their pictures and their memories together and then whatever she had left she got rid of too. I don't know, I think him breaking up with her changed her a lot. She doesn't really care about anything anymore. Not like she's depressed or anything, but it's sort of like a light went out."

Scott frowns at the realization. He hadn't really been paying much attention, but looking back, Camilla wasn't really herself. She was there, but the life she usually brought about wasn't half as strong.

"But anyways, I think she'll be fine once she goes off to college. She needs to get out of this town…" she says sadly. "We all do…" she adds softly.

Absent-mindedly, Scott opens one of Camilla's desk drawers. Inside, he spots a bunch of opened envelopes, all of them worn and old. Camilla's name was written in cursive on the front of all of them.

"What are these?" Scott asks curiously, grabbing a couple envelopes and holding the out for Allison to see. She walks towards him and smiles lightly.

"They're from Camilla's mom. She had this thing about writing letters to Camilla every night. She would spend, like, an hour talking about what it was like raising her and how much love she had for her and everything. But once she started getting sick the letters slowed down and weren't as detailed. Camilla likes to re-read them a lot, that's why they're so worn. She doesn't know this, but her mom actually wrote her letters for special days… Like graduation, the day she gets married… Ron keeps them in the safe, and I overheard him and Susan talking about them one night. It's really sweet…"

Scott smiles sadly as he watches Allison replace the letters in the drawer.

"It almost makes me wish my parents would've died of cancer instead of how they did…"

Scott looks over at Allison sadly, "Hey, don't say that."

Allison blushes guiltily and meets Scott eyes, "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that I—"

"I understand," he says softly, with a sad smile. Suddenly, he reaches out his hand to brush away an eyelash from Allison's cheek. Once he brushes it off, his fingers linger on her soft skin, their eyes locked.

Without warning, the door bursts open and in walk Isaac and Camilla. Scott's hand shoots away from Allison's face and the two inch apart, as do Isaac and Camilla.

"We were just, uh…" Scott stammers.

"I was here to…" Isaac mutters at the same time.

Camilla chuckles awkwardly, "Um…"

Not knowing what to say, the four teens stare at each other. Suddenly, Susan steps up behind Camilla and Isaac, peeking into the room.

"Oh my, a full house tonight!" she cheers. "Who's staying for dinner?"

\-------


	39. Already Gone (5x03)

This was her game. She knew every move to make, she knew every move her opponent would make and she knew that ultimately she would win. This was her game. She had been playing it forever, not that she was complaining – she loved the game, sure some was better than others but it was always good.

When the sleek, blue Chevy Malibu pulls up in front of her she can't help but smile – it's the newest model and a man with a new car means a man with money – and the money is her favorite part of the game.

The passenger side window rolls down slowly and on goes the dome light, reveling a handsome dark haired man with a stubbly face and a seductive smile.

 _This is about to be a very good game_ , she thinks to herself as she says, "Hi, I'm Kandi."

"How you doing, Kandi?" the man asks, his voice deep.

"I'm doing well honey, how are you?"

He smirks and it crinkles his eyes, "I'm doing a lot better now that I found you."

"Wanna take me for a ride, daddy?" she asks, her voice sultry.

"Get in."

Kandi gets in the vehicle in seconds and the two are speeding away from the docks, and toward the road. Kandi feels her heart flutter; it always does this when she knows the game is about to be played. Smoothly she reaches a perfectly manicured hand out and places it on the man's muscular thigh and begins moving it toward his crotch.

"Where we headed, honey?" She asks as she leans over the center console to nibble on his earlobe.

The man doesn't answer but reaches out one of his large hands and puts it on her smooth thigh and quickly slips it under her skirt. Kandi lets out a gasp and then a moan.

The red haired woman doesn't even realize the car is in park and that she's in the backseat with the man until he's on top of her and grinding himself into her. She's moaning loudly, knowing this is what most of her opponents like: a woman who lets him know just how good he is.

He places a few kisses on the crook of her neck and then breathily asks, "Is Kandi your real name?"

"W-what?" She asks, this wasn't part of the game. No one had every played it like this.

"Is Kandi your real name?" He asks again, kissing along her jawline.

"No," she answers truthfully, "my real name is Kathleen."

"Kathleen," he says, almost like he needs to taste the name in his mouth to truly know what it is, "that's a beautiful name. I like that much more than Kandi."

She laughs and begins to sit up, adjusting them so that she was on top, "Thank you, honey. Now, before we go any further I should tell you – if you're looking to fuck, it's going to be $1,000."

"Sure thing," he smiles, "get off me for a sec and let me grab the cash from the glove box."

Kathleen obliges and watches as he leans between the front seats to get into the glove box. She takes a good, long look at his butt as he does this and nods to herself, this was going to be a good game.

"Tell me, baby, what's your name?"

The man turns around then and before Kathleen realizes what's happening a hunter's knife is being shoved through her neck. She can't even scream, but as the life is leaving her body she can see the sparkle in his eyes.

"Oh man, I think I went through your trachea. That's exciting, right?"

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Camilla stands by her locker, peering inside as her nails tap on the door. Her eyes squint as she tries to clear the morning fog and remember which book to grab for class.

As she reaches inside to grab her AP Biology book, Isaac sidles up next to her, a coffee in his hand.

"Since when do you drink coffee?" the girl mutters, eyeing the cup in her ex-boyfriend's hand.

Smiling ever so slightly, he thrusts the cup forward, offering it to Camilla.

"I don't, and I know you don't either. It's hot chocolate."

The brunette, who had recently dyed her hair full-on black despite it being strikingly close to it already, squints at the boy, her forehead crinkling. After a moment, she grabs the drink from him and takes a sip.

"Fuck it's hot," she says as she scrapes her scalded tongue against her top teeth. Her once heavy eyelids are now wide open.

"Well yeah," Isaac chuckles. "That's how it works.  _Hot_  chocolate and all."

Rolling her eyes and producing a tiny grin, Camilla responds, "Yeah yeah yeah."

Before another word is said, Camilla's phone pings loudly, and she sets the hot chocolate on a shelf in her locker to check it.

Isaac watches closely as Camilla's eyes scan the screen and light up. She looks up and around the hallway, as if in search for someone.

"Hey, thanks for the drink, but I gotta go," she speaks excitedly, her eyes still roaming. She grabs the drink from her locker and slams the door, leaving Isaac alone.

Before he can turn around and see where the girl is headed, she is gone, and Isaac scratches his head. Feeling defeated, he shrugs his backpack higher up on his shoulders and turns back the other way to head to his first class.

He barely takes one step before he spots Isaiah walking in the direction Camilla had just gone, his eyes glued to his phone with a smile on his face.

\-------

Scott McCall was tired. Very tired. The last few nights he had not been sleeping well, in fact the amount of sleeping he was getting was nearly nonexistent. Since prom night, when he and Violet had consummated their relationship things had felt… wrong.

Wrong because the entire time he was with Violet he was thinking of Allison.

The werewolf stares into his open locker, knowing he needs to get his textbook for Western Civ but not having the energy or the motivation to go to the class. He wasn't in the mood to listen to Mr. Mitchell go on and on about something he didn't and couldn't care about.

"Hey," Violet says with a bright smile on her face as she approaches Scott, she stands on her tiptoes and plants a kiss on his cheek, "I have a question for you."

Scott turns to face her and half smiles at her, "What's that?"

"When were you planning on telling me you decided to go to Michigan next year?"

"Oh… yeah… um, I got into Michigan and I think I'm going to go! I was planning on telling you, uh, right now obviously."

Violet rolls her eyes, "Seriously McCall?"

"I forgot, okay? There's been a lot going on and my head is all over the place lately. I've got you and Stiles and the pack… or, uh, I mean all my other friends and then I mean, yeah lacrosse is almost over, but it's still crazy. And then there's Allison and I… why are you making that face?"

"Allison."

"Allison?"

"Allison," Violet says flatly, "what's she doing taking up space in your head?"

Scott's eyebrows come together as he says, "She's still one of my closest friends."

"Is she now?"

"Vi…"

"You know, for the last nine months I had to hear people tell me about the legend that is Scott and Allison. Camilla went on and on about it for a good ten minutes once and every now and then Nolan would add some cute little note about you two – and ya know, I told myself not to worry about her. She was your friend, that's what I told myself… but god, I should have known…"

"Known what? Violet, you're being ridiculous, Allison and I are done. She's my past, but you–"

"I'm what? Your future? That's funny since you didn't even think about filling me in on the fact that your future also includes moving 1800 miles away for college. If I'm your future you would've dropped me a line and let me know."

"Vi," Scott begins, "come on. I forgot, I did. There's a lot going on right now. Like a whole lot. The most, even."

"Save it, Scott. I… I can't believe I'm about to do this, but, Scott I think you and I should break up. I just really don't feel like you're committing to this relationship as much as you should, and yeah that bums me out, but I'm definitely not holding it against you."

"Violet, please," Scott says, "you have to know that this isn't what I want. I don't want us to not be, well, us. I want us to stay us. I want you, I… really care about you."

"That's the thing Scott, you shouldn't 'really care about' me, you should love me."

"Violet."

"Scott, this is for the best. You go to Michigan and you meet a great girl and you love her, okay?"

The girl turns around then and begins to walk away, trying her hardest to keep the tears to herself, but she can't help but let a few fall as she turns the corner and disappears from Scott's vision.

\-------

Nolan sits at the lunch table, slowly unpacking his lunch when Isaac sits down across from him and smiles. Nolan furrows his brow and says cautiously, "Can I help you?"

"How are you?" Isaac asks a little too happily.

"I'm fine… can I help you?"

"How are things with you and your sister?"

Nolan tilts his head, "You don't care about me and my sister. What do you want, Isaac?"

"What? I can't just ask about your super crazy, oddly dramatic life? We're friends, I'm allowed to ask," Isaac insists.

"Isaac, in the last year and a half that I've been in Beacon Hills I cannot think of one time that you and I have had a conversation, just the two of us. You didn't talk to me when I stayed at your place last summer, you've never even feigned interest in my life, why are you suddenly trying it out now?"

The werewolf sighs, "Okay, fine, you win. I need to talk to you about Camilla."

"I shoulda guessed."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Uh, it means that you're sickly obsessed with your ex-girlfriend and I should have known the only reason you wanted to talk to me is because I'm her best friend and I'm the person to most likely know whatever it is you want to know. So what do you want to know?"

Running a hand through his curly hair Isaac says, "This morning, I was trying to talk to Camilla about… well, us, obviously, and she was texting and then all of a sudden she just said she had to go and walked away and then I saw that prick Isaiah walking in the same direction she was walking and I guess I was wondering if she and him have been, like, shacking up?"

Nolan sighs and sets down the peanut butter sandwich he was about to take a bite of, "Okay, I'm going to be honest with you, Camilla is a ridiculous flirt. She flirts with everyone. She flirts with me and I'm about as gay as they come. She flirts with Isaiah, yes, but she's not all heart eye emoji for him. She's heart eye emoji for you."

"But this morning…"

"This morning," Nolan interrupts, "Camilla was texting me to find out where I was because she had just gotten her acceptance letter to USF – which she'd been waiting to get for months. She was trying to find me so we could have a thirty second dance party before AP English."

"But Isaiah…"

"Isaiah," Nolan interrupts again, "doesn't even have Camilla's number, as far as I know. I mean, you do realize it's 2015 don't you? We live in a digital age, Isaac. 327,577,520-some people have cellphones. Chances are he was texting one of them."

"Why do you know that number?"

"Who won the World Series in 1988?"

"The Dodgers."

"Why do you know that?"

Isaac scratches the back of his neck, "Okay, yeah, fair enough."

"You two talkin' about Camilla?" Stiles asks as he sits down beside Nolan.

"What else would they be talking about?" Lydia counters, "All their common interests? Camilla is the only thing they have in common."

"See," Nolan says, "it doesn't make sense for us to interact."

Scott sits down next, right beside Isaac and begins unpacking his lunch pulling out a green apple and taking a large bite. He sighs and when Lydia asks why he's so glum the boy replies, "Violet dumped me."

"Why?" Stiles asks.

Nolan, Lydia, and Isaac all snap their heads to stare at Stiles – this being the first time he's spoken to Scott in front of them in months.

"She was pissed that I was going to Michigan and she was like wigging out about Allison too, so she just…"

"Allison?" Nolan asks, "Why was she worried about Allison?"

Scott swallows hard and says, "Well, it's Allison. Anyone I date should be worried about her."

"Limerence," Lydia sighs.

"What?" Scott asks.

"A state of mind that results from a romantic attraction to another person and typically includes obsessive thoughts and fantasies and a desire to form or maintain a relationship with the object of love and have one's feelings reciprocated," the banshee tells him, "sort of seems like you have Limerence."

"I'm hardly limerence-y," Scott protests.

"You're a total limerencer," Stiles quips.

Just then Scott's phone vibrates on the table and his eyes widen, "It's Coach Moore. Coach Moore who is Violet's big, protective brother just texted me and asked me to meet him in the locker room. What does he want?"

"Go and find out," Isaac shrugs.

"Right… Right. I'll just go and see what he wants."

"And remember," Nolan says, "if he gets all physical, you've got werewolf powers."

"Excellent point," Scott smiles as he gets up from the table and walks away. When the boy is out of earshot Lydia turns and looks at Stiles.

"Since when are you speaking to him again?"

Standing in line to get chicken nuggets, Camilla is merrily listening in to two sophomores talking about the struggles of having a boyfriend.  _If only these little bitches knew about werewolves_ , she thinks to herself as she watches one of the lunch ladies put a helping of French fries on her plate.

"Can I ask you a question?" a voice from behind her asks, the black haired girl turns her head and see Jackson with a tray in his hands looking at her like an angry, lost puppy.

"You just did," she answers flatly.

Ignoring her comment, Jackson asks, "Are Nolan and I over?"

"Why are you asking  _me_  this question?"

"Who else would I ask?"

"Um, maybe perhaps the boy you're in a relationship with?" Camilla retorts.

Jackson rolls his eyes, "You're his person or whatever, you know what's going on in his head better than he does – so I ask again, are Nolan and I over?"

Lunch Lady Mae puts four chicken nuggets on Camilla's plate and smiles happily at the girl, Camilla shoots a smile back and says, "Listen Jack-Off Bitchmore, you can ask your question as much as you want, but if I remember Nolan and I's drunken bathroom conversation prom night – and I just barely do – I was part of the reason you two got into this gay lover's quarrel in the first place. So  _I_  ask again, why are you asking me about this?"

Jackson lets out a big sigh, "Because you're his person. He needs you. He told me once that the reason he loved you was because you were there for him when I wasn't. You're his rock and whether you admit it or not, he's yours. So just tell me if he's said anything about the two of us being done done."

Camilla rolls her eyes, "I want you to know that I hate you and I hate this conversation, but no. He hasn't said anything about you guys being  _totally_ over. He thinks that you're right on the edge though and he's waiting for a strong wind to push you guys one way or the other."

"Thank you."

"For what it's worth, and if you ever mention this ever I'll exercise my impeccable hunter abilities and fully kill you, I think you guys should be together."

"Really?"

"I've enjoyed your candor, but now I need to go pretend like I didn't just endure the worst four and a half minutes of my life."

\-------

"Okay, who dares to follow Camilla's shudder-inducing monologue?" Ms. Palmer calls out as Camilla takes her seat, a smile beaming on her face.

As she plops down next to Nolan, the boy leans over to her.

"If anyone can pull off psycho serial killer, it's definitely you," he chuckles, shoving a pencil behind his ear.

"I figured that would be the most convincing. I definitely couldn't pull off a whiny Taylor Swift-esque monologue like half of the bimbos in here."

Nolan shakes his head and watches as Scott marches up to the center of the room, apparently having volunteered to be the next victim.

"Um, I'm not really too comfortable with the lines yet, so I'm going to read off this paper.." Scott tells the class shakily, with a giddiness in his voice.

"Go for it, brother," Ms. Palmer eggs him on.

Clearing his throat, Scott begins.

"I remember the first time I saw you. You were sweaty, well, we both were. Your face was all red, not from being embarrassed, but because you were really focused on those weights. You didn't even notice me standing there, I was impressed, and I'm pretty sure my jaw was on the ground."

A questioning look crosses over Ms. Palmer's face as Scott continues.

"But then you saw me, and I'm more than sure my face turned even redder. You looked sort of pissed off, kind of like the face you make when your mother calls you. I took that as a sign I should leave, and man, do I regret that. I remember going home, my hair still wet from the gym showers, and you were on my mind. Why didn't I just say hi?"

Scott flips the page and looks around with a sly smile as he does.

"But, as fate would have it, you walked right back into my life. Literally. Don't you remember? You were late for our first staff meeting, your hair was all rustled from the wind, but I remember I couldn't stop staring, just like everyone else."

With these last few words, Ms. Palmer sits up in her seat, the questioning look even broader on her face. Scott peeks over and her and his smile widens.

"I knew on that day that I was smitten. The way you corrected Mr. Jones, not even caring that he was already mad at you for being late. Putting up with me staring at you the whole time, your face got red a lot then, too. And afterwards, I made sure to shuffle my papers a lot, to take up enough time so you would have to walk right by me. Do you remember the question I asked you? It was such a silly little line, I think I was pretty flustered at that point, but I knew I had to say something. And as you walked by me, your blue dress swishing as you moved, I said, 'Come here often?'"

With that, Ms. Palmer's face contorts with surprise, but before she can even react her door bursts open. Standing with a smile as big as the sky is Mr. Moore, who carries on Scott's monologue as he moves toward Ms. Palmer.

"And now, after many dates, many more times at the gym where you proved to me you're stronger than you look, and many meetings later, I have one more question for you."

The man gets down on his knee whilst swiftly pulling out a box from his back pocket. He looks up at his girlfriend and asks, "Will you marry me?"

As tears stream down her face, and her hands move to her mouth in surprise, she nods excitedly before being able to muster the word "Yes."

They meet each other half way and find themselves in a kiss full of happiness, passion, and excitement. The class erupts in applause and cheers as the two break away and the man places a beautiful diamond on Ms. Palmer's left ring finger.

"Scott, you get an A plus," she laughs while wiping her tears of joy away.

"I told you you'd do great, kid," Mr. Moore adds, knowing he only gave Scott a short amount of time to prepare.

Scott smiles as he heads back to his desk and, at least for the moment, all is okay in his life.

\-------

"They broke up?" Allison asks from where she sits at the head of her bed in her and her father's old apartment. It felt good to be living here again, if even her dad was gone.

"That's what Harley was telling me in AP Bio," Lydia replies as she finishes getting her hair into a milkmaid braid, "she said she saw the whole thing go down and that Scott didn't even put up half a fight to keep her."

"So they're just done? Poof, just like that?"

"That's what I'm saying."

"And Scott hasn't mentioned anything?"

"He said something about it at lunch…"

"What did he say?" Allison questions.

Lydia sighs, "He said she dumped him for two reasons. One, he's going to Michigan for college and two, you."

"Me?"

"You."

"Like you as in me?"

"Yes."

"Me, Allison?"

"Okay, I'm not going to keep telling you yes all afternoon."

Allison raises her eyebrows, "Why was I a reason?"

"Because you two are Scott and Allison. You're a love story for the ages, and I mean, Violet only knew the human half of it. If she knew all the supernatural elements of your guys' love life… man alive she would have dumped him ages ago."

Allison smiles, "Do you think maybe he still loves me?"

"Oh boy…"

"What?"

"You're suffering from Limerence too," the red haired girl informs her friend, rolling her eyes.

"What is that?"

"Google it. Can we talk about something else?"

Allison giggles, "Want to talk about Stiles' dad catching the two of you in the act?"

"I'd rather die of cholera," Lydia retorts.

Allison lets out a rumbling belly laugh, "I'm sorry but I can't stop imagining how awkward Stiles was when that happened… or god how bad his father must have been… oh my god, the Stilinski men are just ridiculous men."

"Try being in love with one of them and then talk to me about ridiculousness."

Allison looks at the time on her phone and shows it to Lydia, "You should probably head over to Derek's… don't want to be late for babysitting Fran."

"No, we wouldn't want that," Lydia agrees, standing up, "seriously though, google Limerence and then don't go looking for Scott even though that's exactly what you'll end up doing, so I don't know why I'm even wasting my breath."

Allison watches as Lydia's lilac colored skirt flows behind her as she walks out of the room and when the girl hears the apartment door shut she grabs her laptop and types in 'Limerence,' and begins reading.

"Infatuated love?"

\-------

Cracking her knuckles and earning a glare from an old lady seated at the bar, Camilla waits at the local diner, having just ordered food for her night with Nolan.

The seconds tick by as she watches the diner workers bustle around, filling orders and pouring coffee.

Without warning, a warm hand is placed on her shoulder and she jumps, spinning around to spot Isaiah.

"Oh, hey," she greets him, her voice a bit shaky from being snuck-up on and since she had a bit of a crush on the man.

"Hey there. Getting a burger to munch on?" he asks, making conversation as his face spreads into a gentle smile. The hand he used to reach out to Camilla is placed in the pocket of his leather jacket.

"Uh, yeah, something like that," she answers, not wanting to reveal her true selection of a grilled cheese.

"Great minds think alike," he winks as he moves towards the register to place his order.

After he finishes conferring with one of the waitresses, he turns back to Camilla, his smile returning.

"Got any big plans for the night?" he questions, grabbing a toothpick from the counter and sticking it into his mouth.

"Not really, just getting drunk with my pal Nolan," Camilla tells him bluntly, making him chuckle.

"Sounds like a good time. I'm sure you're a pretty interesting drunk person, I mean, you're pretty great sober…" he flirts, his eyes locked on Camilla's.

"I've gotten stellar reviews, you should check out my Yelp page. Just search 'drunk Camilla,'" she smiles sweetly.

Isaiah laughs and shakes his head, "That or I could just experience it in person and then leave my own review."

A voice comes from behind Camilla, saying, "You know, Isaiah, it's really not your scene. Plus, isn't that sort of illegal? Right, Camilla?"

The brunette looks behind her at Isaac and clenches her jaw. Before she can speak, her name is called, signifying that her order is ready.

Shaking her head and storming up to the counter, she grabs her bag of food.

Passing both Isaiah and Isaac she says, "I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm not in the mood for a sausage fest tonight."

With that, she stomps out the door, steam practically coming out of her ears.

She almost immediately hears the door open behind her as she heads to her car.

"Isaac, not now," she yells, not even turning around to look who it was, she could just tell.

"Camilla, wait, I want to talk to you!" he shouts back, catching up with her in an instant right as she makes it to her car.

She pulls out her keys angrily, ignoring him. The jerk out of her pocket is too forceful and she sends the keys flying, much to her dismay. With the speed of a werewolf, Isaac intercepts them and holds them out of her reach.

"Isaac, seriously, give them to me," Camilla commands, holding out the hand that didn't have the bag.

"Will you just listen to me for one minute?" he roars, his voice angrier than he wanted it to be. It's effective however, because Camilla's shoulders relax and her hand awaiting the keys falls to her side. She gives him a look as if telling him to go on.

"Why didn't you tell me you got into USF?" he asks, his voice a lot softer and gentler than before.

She sighs and runs her free hand through her hair, "I don't know Isaac, I just found out this morning and—"

"Yeah, you found out when I was right next to you," he interrupts. "Was that not an opportunity to tell me?"

"No! It wasn't! I had JUST found out; I got the text from my dad telling me, and when you broke up with me you lost the right to be the first person I told. Now that person is Nolan," she tells him with a sadness in her voice and her eyes.

Isaac looks at her, biting his lip as he feels the power of her words.

"I don't want it to be like that, Camilla," he begins. "I know we have our issues, but I want to work on them, okay? I know I don't deserve it, I really don't, but you know me and you know I won't give up. I don't know what's going on between you and Isaiah—"

"Nothing, Issac! Nothing is going on!" Camilla says, taking her turn to interrupt. "And I know he wants something, and fuck, for a minute there I did too. You hurt me! You can't just leave people in the dust when they do something you don't like. Literally, you left me in the dust in that damn parking lot."

Continuing her rant, she says, "And you can't just decide when you want to love me. I love you Isaac, I haven't stopped loving you. But you did. What are you, a fucking faucet? If I wanted to date a sink I'd go to the goddamn Home Depot and buy one there! I can't just wait around for you to turn back on! I won't do it to myself."

Rare tears flood from the girl's eyes as she takes a deep breath, her words hanging in the air. Isaac takes a step closer and puts his hand on her arm.

"You don't have to. I never stopped loving you either, I just… I don't know, I needed a break for a while. So much happened and we never really got to focus on us and our relationship. It was all about the next big bad guy coming to take us out. As much as I wanted to be ready for my relationship with you, I just wasn't, and I'm sorry that I gave up. I shouldn't have done that to you, but Camilla, I know that now. And I know I want nothing else than to be yours. Can we, I don't know, just go somewhere and talk?"

Camilla looks around, considering his offer, trying to keep the tears from flowing.

"I can't tonight, I've got plans with Nolan already, hence the big bag of diner food," she responds, biting her lip, afraid to say no.

Looking rejected, Isaac's shoulders fall and his face turns gloomy.

"But hey, we're drinking tonight and so I probably shouldn't drive home, and I really don't want to sleep in the same house as Nolan's sister, so maybe you could come pick me up afterwards or something. You could take me home or we could talk or…"

Smiling softly, Isaac nods.

"Yeah, just call me then, okay?"

"Okay," Camilla answers, smiling back. After a beat she asks, "Can I get my keys now, please?"

"Oh, right. Sorry," the boy replies, handing the keys over as they jingle from the movement. Camilla unlocks her car and sets the food inside.

Isaac begins to walk towards his own car as Camilla calls out, "I'll see you later, okay?"

"See you later," Isaac affirms.

\-------

Stiles sits across from Scott at the dinner table. The boy's palms are sweating like crazy, which is dumb – he's eaten dinner at this table hundreds of times in his life, yet for some reason tonight's dinner feels like he's about to be interviewed by Barbara Walters.

"How was school today, Stiles," Melissa asks as she passes him the mashed potatoes.

Before grabbing the bowl, Stiles wipes his hand on his jeans, "It was schooly. You know, teachers and chalk boards and loads of information that won't actually help me in the real world."

"And your day, Scott?" Stiles' dad asks.

"Same as Stiles'," Scott replies with a crooked smile, "only, ya know, I helped Coach Moore propose to Ms. Palmer."

"Oh, that's so sweet!" Melissa says, "How'd you do it?"

"Okay, this… this is weird," Stiles says flatly, "I mean, don't get me wrong I appreciate the whole family unit thing you guys got goin' on here, but it's weird. It's like watching  _Leave It To Beaver_  or something and it just… it makes my stomach hurt honestly."

"Stiles…" the older Stilinski begins.

"He's right," Scott says, stepping in to defend his friend, "I don't know why we're eating pot roast. In the last fifteen years I don't think you've made a pot roast once, mom. In fact I can't really remember the last time you cooked."

"Scott Eduardo McCall," Melissa begins, "I can cook!"

"I know that you can," Scott replies, "I'm just saying you don't frequently cook. I mean, Stiles knows. Whenever he's been here in the past you're either coming home at dinner time from a shift at the hospital with some takeout or you're at the hospital so Stiles and I have to order in."

"He's right," Stiles laughs, "no offense, Melissa, but you aren't exactly the stay-at-home type."

At the end of the table Stiles' dad begins to laugh.

"What do you think is so funny, Mr. I Could Burn Cereal? Did you know the second week your dad was living here he somehow managed to burn a quesadilla in the microwave? Yeah, we had to open up every window in the house the place was so smokey – and we had to replace the microwave."

"Daaaaaad…"

The Ex-Sheriff perks up in his chair, "You're not one to talk Stiles, remember the Easy Mac fiasco of '09?"

"We swore we would never talk about this for the rest of eternity," Stiles says.

"In the microwave. No water. Fire department called. That's all I'm sayin'."

Stiles shakes his head and laughs along with Melissa and Scott, "I hate you and I hate that story."

Melissa takes a sip of her iced tea and says, "If you think that story is bad, you haven't heard about the time Scott and his grandmother thought that you could microwave ice cream for ten minutes to make the whole thing melty…"

\-------

Deputy Ben Hunt and Sheriff Donna Lamb stand in the interrogation room while the hooker sits at the table taking one long drag after another off of her cigarette, "I mean, I never ever thought that Kandi would end up dead as hell," she says, sounding like Tai from  _Clueless_ , as she shakily takes another drag.

"We're sorry for your loss," Ben says as he looks at Donna from the corner of his eye, "do you remember anything about the guy? Any distinguishing features?"

"I mean, Kandi wasn't even that pretty… like what would have happened if it woulda been me? Ya know? I coulda wound up all  _Silence of the Lambs_ with my skin cut off and… ugh, what a disaster."

"Listen, miss… Ginger, was it?" Sheriff Lamb asks.

"Yeah, but that's just my street name. My real name is Chanterelle DeGroote."

"Chanterelle… like the mushroom?" Lamb asks.

Chanterelle furrows her brow and frowns, "What you got against my name, bitch?"

"I would refrain from calling the Sheriff a bitch, ma'am," Ben suggests.

The woman rolls her eyes, "Whatever, okay, look, I got a clear shot of what the fucker looked like, okay? I mean he was hot as the summer, but he had that look in his eye… like his dick was probably weird."

"Do you think you could describe him to a sketch artist?" Lamb asks the hooker.

The woman nods and smiles, "Well, yeah! I can talk to, like, anybody."

Ben and the Sheriff exchange a glance, feeling like they may be headed in the right direction to catch this perp.

\-------

"Sharpay was CLEARLY the best female character, no questions asked! So much sass, and so much more ass than Gabriela! She said it herself, she's fabulous!" Camilla slurs, her voice loud and her glass raised high in the air for effect.

"Whatever, whatever! Why are we even discussing this anymore?" Nolan whines, slumping back in his seat and throwing a piece of lime on the table in front of him.

"Good question," Annalise states, placing her own lime on the table, rather than throwing it.

"I was just defending my girl," Camilla shrugs taking a long gulp from her cup. "I am LOYAL."

"You're also LOUD," Nolan yells, covering his ears as emphasis.

"Sorry I don't talk like I have an angel taking a nap on my tongue!" she spits back.

"I do not talk like that! If anything I have a demon on my tongue since—"

"Nolan, I think we should just stop the arguing, huh?" Annalise warns him, her eyes flickering over to their guest, and Annalise's boyfriend, Spencer.

"Yeah, okay, fine," he mutters quietly, his face turning red from the alcohol and the embarrassment.

"Let's play a game," Camilla suggests.

"Like what?" Annalise asks curiously.

"It's really fun, I love it. It's called, "Let's Get More Wasted". I'll go first!" With that, the girl stands up and pads into the kitchen where the liquor was roosted.

The rest of the group laughs and watches her leave.

"You know, that sounds like a fun game, I think I'll grab another beer. You want anything, babe?" Spencer asks as he rises from his chair, an empty bottle in his hand.

"No, I'm good. I might head to bed soon, actually," she replies, stretching her arms over her head and yawning.

"Who knew my sister was such a pussy," Nolan chimes in as he takes a small sip of his own drink.

"Nolan, please, that's still your first drink, and I've had two margaritas and a beer."

Nolan scoffs, "I had a shot of tequila just a second ago!"

In the kitchen, Camilla bends over in front of the open fridge, looking for something to mix with her vodka.

"Coming through," Spencer calls out to her just as he slides in the range of the fridge right next to her to grab a beer. Within such a small space, his body presses up against hers, with his lower half pretty much in her face.

Standing stiffly, Camilla doesn't move until he backs away. She shuts the fridge door with empty hands.

"I think Nolan used the last Sprite for his drink," Spencer reveals, noticing the annoyed look on her face.

"Figures. Oh well, I'll just take some shots or something," she mumbles, grabbing the bottle of vodka.

"You could have a couple of my beers. I like to share," Spencer smiles at her, uncapping his own beer and taking a swig.

"I'm good, beer sucks."

Spencer chuckles, "You know, if you broadened your horizons, you might find something you like. Hell, you might even love it."

Camilla eyes him warily, uncomfortable with the way he looks at her.

"My horizons are fine. I've tried beer, I didn't like it. Tequila is more Nolan's thing than mine. So I choose vodka," she tells him, her voice firm.

"Well, some things you have to go back to and try again. You can't just give up on something, it takes time to really appreciate what you've got going," he responds, his face turning serious.

"Eh, not tonight," she shrugs, turning to leave. As she heads back to the table, she texts Nolan.

_Spencer is freaking weird._

The boy reads his message and looks up at Camilla, nodding his head and mouthing "I know."

\-------

Lydia paces anxiously as she listens to the phone ring. Finally, Allison picks up.

"Allison, help," she blurts before Allison can finish saying "Hello."

"What's wrong?" Allison asks, concerned.

"The baby. It won't stop crying. No matter what I do. It's not hungry, its diaper is clean, it doesn't want to rock in the chair, I don't know what to do."

Allison laughs, "Well, first, stop calling her an it. Did you burp her?"

"Yes! I did everything! She won't stop! Do you hear her?" Lydia holds the phone away from her ear and towards the crying baby.

"Yeah, she sounds sort of like you when you go all banshee on us," Allison jokes.

"This is not a joking matter, Argent! Get over here now!"

"Are you sure Erica and Derek will be okay with that?" the brunette responds, biting a fingernail.

"I'm sure they would be okay with it considering if you don't come here this baby's vocal chords are going to be destroyed by the time they get back!"

"Okay, okay, I'll be there soon," Allison assures her.

\-------

"Will alcohol affect my breastmilk even if I metabolize it, like, a thousand times faster than humans?" Erica wonders out loud, eyeing the wine menu.

"I never ever thought I would hear those words uttered from your mouth," Derek responds.

"Yeah well did you ever think I would pop your baby out either?" she questions him, giving him a look full of humor.

"True," he replies. Erica laughs and closes the menu.

"It's not like it matters, I'm not 21, I won't even get drunk unless I drink about 10 bottles, and it's overpriced anyways," she shrugs.

"This whole place is overpriced," Derek scoffs, eyeing his own menu.

"Tell me about it. You probably get more food at the diner for half as much as this stuff costs," Erica adds. "We should've just gone there."

Meeting his girlfriend's eyes, Derek asks, "Do you want to?"

"Are you serious?" Erica replies, her eyes wide.

"Well, yeah, if you are," he tells her.

"Hell yes." The words are barely out of her mouth before she is standing with her purse over her shoulder. The two stroll out of the restaurant and Derek takes Erica's hand.

"And this is why I let you have my baby," he says, kissing the top of her head and pulling the blonde closer.

"Ha, let me!"

Derek grins at her and then two head toward their car.

\-------

Nolan and Camilla sit on Nolan's couch with Grey's Anatomy playing on the TV, though neither one is watching.

"Whoa, when did you start growing boobs? Right out of the womb?" Nolan exclaims as he scrolls through old pictures of Camilla on her Facebook.

"Shut up, you look like a demon in this picture!" she says as she thrusts her phone towards him, showing a picture of Nolan as a chubby little boy.

"Well, I mean…" Nolan shrugs.

"Oh my God, you ARE a demon!" Camilla remembers and bursts out laughing.

The two erupt into enormous bouts of laughter until their faces are red and they can't breathe anymore.

"I think… I might… Pee my… Pants," Camilla says in between deep breaths.

"OH MY GOD!" Nolan shouts, looking at his phone.

"What? How ugly was I? What picture is it?" Camilla shouts back, climbing over to him and trying to wrestle his phone away.

"Camilla, no, not a picture! And shh, my sister is asleep!" he tells her, shoving her off and back onto her side of the couch.

The girl settles back down and rolls her eyes, "Your sister is passed out, dude. She handles her alcohol about as good as you do, and she had a lot more than you."

"I guess it's a Hayes thing, but seriously though, Jackson just texted me."

Camilla snorts, "So what? Did he find another Doctor Who to fall in love with?"

Nolan glares at his friend, "Low blow, but no. He just told me he's outside and wants to talk."

"Fuck like right now?" Camilla questions, sitting up and trying to peep out the window. "Shit! His car is here!"

"I'll just tell him I can't because I'm with you…" Nolan says, typing on his phone.

"No! Dude, go! As much as I hate Jaw Faker, you need some action and you need to figure your shit out."

"Jaw Faker?" Nolan asks, his brow furrowed.

"Yeah, like Jaw Breaker, only his jaw is literally fake. I swear to God," Camilla tells him shaking her head.

"Oh. Good one," Nolan laughs.

"Yeah I know, I'm great. But if you don't get your skinny ass off this couch I will set you on fire," Camilla warns, nudging Nolan with her foot which was clad in a fuzzy sock.

"Okay, don't do that, please. I'm going," he tells her, standing up and stretching. "But what about you? You shouldn't drive and I don't know when I'll be back."

"I'm fine, I'll just call Isaac and have him come get me," Camilla says, turning back to her phone.

"Wait what? You two are… good? He was just freaking out about you at lunch!"

Camilla shrugs, "I don't know, I ran into him at the diner and he wants to talk so I said he could come get me after you passed out."

Nolan gasps, "You thought I would pass out?"

"Nolan, please, you always pass out. And now I'd have to call Allison or someone to give me a ride because I'm not sleeping here with your sister's weird boyfriend skulking around."

"Fair enough," Nolan says, moving towards the door to put on his shoes.

"Be safe kid," Camilla warns him, giving him a salute with her hand as he turns the doorknob.

"I always am," he smiles, blowing her a kiss goodbye.

He shuts the door and Camilla looks around, already feeling uncomfortable. She raises herself off the couch and puts her own shoes on before heading out into the chilly night.

She wraps one arm around herself to keep warm and uses the other to hold her phone up to her ear as she dials Isaac.

Suddenly, something grabs her from behind, knocking the phone out of her hand. She fights back, but the stranger has a firm grip on her and covers her mouth with a cloth. She feels her strength fade and the captor slowly lowers her to the ground. Her vision blurs but she is able to watch as a figure grabs her phone, presses the end button, and then proceeds to stomp on it.

The person turns back to her right before she succumbs to the darkness, and in the pale light of the streetlamp she recognizes her attacker.

Spencer.

\------- 


	40. The Blackest Day (5x04)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter involves sexual assault. Read with caution.

Camilla grits her teeth as another slap meets her face, blood spewing from both her mouth and her nose.

"If you're trying to establish dominance or whatever, you're going to have to hit me harder than my grandma," she spits out, eyeing the man who struck her. His eyes glisten as she talks, a smirk appearing on his lips.

"Oh, sweetheart. I haven't even started yet," he replies coolly as he begins pacing across the hard concrete floor. Camilla watches Spencer carefully as he moves. Though her arms are aching from being suspended in chains attached to the ceiling, her face shows nothing but valor.

Her feet lazily touch the floor; if she were an inch shorter, she would be hanging from the ceiling entirely. After a few moments of silence, Spencer speaks up again as his pacing ceases.

"Look, I don't want to hurt your pretty little face any more than you. From what I've heard from Nolan jabbering about how badass you are, you've had some hefty head injuries, right?"

Camilla doesn't respond, instead keeping her eyes locked on his.

"Well, a few more hits here and there, and you might have some permanent damage… And we wouldn't want that would we? Especially not Scott or Isaac or Derek…"

Confused, Camilla responds, "What the hell do they have to do with this? You picked the wrong girl if you want to get under their skin."

Spencer chuckles, "You really don't know how important you are to them? Well, with Derek, I guess it makes sense, but still, he needs you just as much as the others."

"What the fuck are you even talking about?" Camilla growls, shifting around in her uncomfortable position.

Spencer shakes his head, the smirk returning to his face. "Okay, let me fill you in on why you're here. The murders and everything around town? They're connected. Pretty much everything in this town is connected, people are just too dumb to see it. And a lot of that has to do with… drum roll please… the supernatural. And you, my dear, are going to help me out with this little problem."

Before Camilla can respond Spencer hits her again, this time making her vision blur for a few seconds.

"You can't use me if I'm unconscious you idiot," Camilla tells him, her head throbbing.

The man cocks his head, "It's okay. I don't need you yet." With that, he delivers another blow, and for Camilla, everything goes black.

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Jackson and Nolan roll around in bed, Jackson planting a line of kisses along Nolan's jaw. The boy laughs before kissing the werewolf firmly on the lips, nibbling on the lower lip gently. Jackson grinds into Nolan and lets out a low growl.

Before Nolan realizes what he's done, Jackson is shirtless and on top of him. Nolan's hands travel over the mounds of muscles on Jackson's abdomen as he begins to kiss down Jackson's neck, causing the lacrosse player to let out a moan.

"I," Jackson begins as he pins Nolan's arms down and kissed the boy hard, "am never fighting with you… ever again."

Nolan kisses Jackson and grabs his lower lip between his teeth, tugging gently, "Promise?" the boy asks as he releases the lip.

"More than I've ever promised before," Jackson answers. "You spend all the time with Camilla you want or Lydia or Scott… do what makes you happy."

"Happy?"

"I want you to be elated, baby," Jackson says breathily as he begins to move his way down Nolan's body. The werewolf pauses when he reaches Nolan's black CK briefs, his eyes dart up to Nolan's and he flashes a menacing smile before getting up and out of the bed.

Nolan's brow furrows as he sits up, titillated and confused, "You stopped."

"I stopped."

"You  _stopped_."

"I stopped."

"Why did you stop?" Nolan asks, "I liked where things were headed, what's with the stopping?"

Jackson smirks and then drops his own boxers to the floor, "I think I'm gonna hop in the shower instead… but feel free to join me if you so choose."

Nolan watches intently as Jackson walks naked into the bathroom. Swallowing hard he drops down onto the pillows and laughs. He gets up then and gets to his jeans and pulls his phone out of the pocket, quickly pulling up his messages with Camilla.

At rocket speed the boy types,  _Jackson and I are all better lol_ , before he tosses the phone onto the bed and runs into the bathroom after his werewolf.

\-------

Isaac doesn't need special hearing to hear how loud his heart is beating as he knocks on Camilla's door. He doesn't know if it's from anger, nerves, or worry, but he is sure that whoever is walking towards the door inside the apartment can hear it too.

"Isaac?" a sleepy-eyed Ron answers, wearing a navy blue bath robe and what looks like nothing else.

"Sorry to bug you, Ron, but I just came by to see Camilla. I was supposed to drive her home from Nolan's last night and she never called, so I just wanted to make sure she got home okay," he tells the man.

Ron groans as he stretches his arms above his head. "I don't think she even came home last night, but you can go check in her room if you'd like. I'm a pretty heavy sleeper."

Nodding, Isaac heads inside when Ron opens the door wider. He passes the kitchen and spots Susan making breakfast. Her eyes light up.

"Oh, Isaac! It's been so long! How have you been? How is senior year going? Oh, there's so much I want to know!" she squeals, rushing towards him to give him a big hug.

When she lets go, Isaac tells her, "I've been okay. I'm sure Camilla told you why I haven't been around."

"Many, many times, with very colorful language," Ron mumbles as he heads towards the bathroom.

Susan clacks her tongue and shakes her head at the man. "Just ignore him."

"I'm sure it's true, though. I was a big jerk to Camilla and I know how she gets when she's angry," Isaac responds knowingly, shoving his hands into his blue jeans.

"Well, she doesn't have a filter, so I never take her too seriously when she's in one of her moods," Susan replies, heading back to the kitchen. "But what are you here for, sweetie?

Camilla isn't home, I just checked a few minutes before you got here. She was out with Nolan last night."

"That's the thing," Isaac says to the woman, "I was supposed to give her a ride here last night but I never heard from her, so I just wanted to check in. Plus, her phone goes straight to voicemail."

"Hmmm. I don't know, kiddo. Allison usually grabs her up when she drinks somewhere, but maybe she had a little too much and ended up staying at Nolan's! Have you checked over there?"

Isaac shakes his head.

Susan speaks up, "Well, you are welcome to stay for breakfast and see if she scampers in!"

"That's okay, thank you," Isaac answers politely. "I think I'll check at Nolan's so I can stop worrying about her."

Susan stops scrambling eggs to smile at the boy, "So you're worried? Last I heard you two had hardly looked at each other."

"I can never not look at her," he says with a sad look in his eyes. "Even though I thought I could."

\-------

"Is it possible to be hungover from fast food?" Erica grumbles as she makes her way into her living room, Francesca on her hip.

Derek chuckles and stretches his arms out to grab the baby as he says, "I don't think so, I think you were just reminded of how good it feels to not be taking care of a baby every hour of the day."

Erica slumps down onto the couch next to him after she hands over Francesca. She moves closer and puts one of her hands on the baby's face.

"That and not worrying that something bad will happen to us," she sighs, stroking Francesca's cheek, making the baby smile.

Derek pulls his eyebrows together as he asks, "Where did that come from?"

The blonde looks up at him and shrugs, "I don't know. Just lately I've been thinking about all the things that have happened to us here. I mean, we live in a town that is literally a beacon for all things supernatural, and having a baby has made me rethink how safe it really is."

"There are plenty of families with babies and kids that have had no harm done to them," Derek tells her, placing a hand on her bare leg as she was only wearing an oversized t-shirt.

"But a lot of those families aren't supernatural. And they don't have a history like you and I." She stares at him blankly, her eyes poring into his.

Derek takes a moment to respond, but says, "So what are you saying, that you want to move?"

Erica grabs the hand resting on her leg with both of her own and sits up.

"Would it be totally crazy and absurd of me to say that?" she asks, gripping his hand in hers.

"No," he replies after a moment of consideration.

"Wait, really?" she asks, tightening her grip. He shakes his hand out of hers and places it on her face instead.

"Really. Aside from Scott and the rest, there's nothing here that we can't find somewhere else, somewhere better. I want our little girl to have as normal of a life as possible, and if you think we're better off in a different place, then I think we should consider it," he agrees, stroking her cheek like she had just done to their daughter.

Erica's face falls at the mention of her friends. "But we also have to consider Scott and the rest too. They're basically our only family."

"But they're all leaving for college soon, remember?" Derek reminds her.

Erica studies his face as she says, "You're right. But still. I wouldn't want to leave until they do. And I'd want to stay somewhere close enough to here that we could all come back to visit."

Derek smiles, "Babe, we have a lot of time to work things out okay? Until then, I promise I'll keep you and my little girl safe. Plus, we should probably get married before we move." Erica pulls away and her mouth drops open.

"Was that a freaking proposal? Because if it was, I'm going to kick your ass. Mama wants a ring and to see you down on your knee."

The man chuckles and shakes his head, "No, it wasn't, it was just a thought. But speaking of the down on my knees thing, why don't we put on some cartoons for Franny and head to the bedroom so I can take your mind off of marriage and moving for the moment?"

"Who are you, and what have you done with my boyfriend?" Erica asks.

"Is that a no?" he replies, a playful look on his face.

The blonde girl takes some time before she says, "Turn on  _Sofia the First_  and get your sexy ass upstairs."

\-------

Isaac hates this house. He's hated it since the night he came here and saw a woman turn into a pile of ash and skin in a room full of cookies. He hates this house. He hates it a lot.

The werewolf's hand balls into a fist and is knocking on the front door before his desire to turn around and walk away from this stupid, yellow house becomes too much to bear. He hears a dog barking in the background and rolls his eyes – Nolan's dog was a stupid creature.

Isaac can hear someone walking toward the door, but the footfalls are too light to be Nolan's. He sighs, thinking  _Great… I get to deal with the estranged sister._

The heavy oak door swings open and on the other side stands Annalise in a knee length white sweater with a cup of coffee in her hands – vanilla hazelnut roast if Isaac smells correctly.

"Can I help you with something?" the woman asks slowly, "You're Isaac Lahey, correct?"

"Uh, yeah, I am… and yeah," Isaac says with a fake smile, "actually I was wondering if you knew where Camilla was?"

"Argent?"

"Do you know another Camilla?"

Annalise smiles, "I'm the guidance counselor, Isaac. So, yeah, I know two other Camillas."

"Why would I be looking for any Camilla besides Camilla Argent?"

"I don't know, I don't know your life."

Isaac rolls his eyes, "Do you know where Camilla  _Argent_ is?"

Annalise shakes her head no, "I haven't seen her since last night when she and my brother were drinking straight from the bottle laughing at baby pictures."

"That was the last you saw her?"

"That's what I said isn't it?"

Isaac frowns and looks down at his Nikes and listens at what is going on in the house… he hears another heartbeat. One back in the kitchen, the place where Kelly Hayes had left her host body last summer, the werewolf smirks now and says, "What about your guest?"

Annalise sighs, "I hate werewolves."

Isaac smiles now, "Mind if I come in?"

"Actually, I…."

Isaac pushes past the girl and walks back toward the kitchen, stepping on the tail of Nolan's cat…  _god, why does Nolan have some many freaking pets?_ Isaac asks himself as he comes around the corner and into the kitchen.

Instantly, Isaac's eyes widen, "DEREK?!" he yelps upon seeing the naked man.

Turning around, at full attention, the man smiles, "It's Spencer, actually."

Isaac turns his back to the kitchen and looks at Annalise who is doing all she can not to laugh. She raises her eyebrows and says, "Spence, have you seen Camilla lately?"

"Argent? Or are we talking about Camilla Hamilton?" the man questions.

Annalise smirks, "Argent."

"Haven't seen her since I left last night after you went to bed," he answers, "but if I remember correctly she and Nolan were getting pretty deep into the baby pics and season 4 of Grey's Anatomy."

"There you have it," Annalise beams, "so will you be leaving now, or did you want to join Spencer and I upstairs?"

"Goodbye," Isaac replies as he brushes past Nolan's sister and back out to the front porch. Pulling the door closed behind him. Once he's out he can hear Annalise and her man laughing cheerily in the house.

Shaking his head and pushing away the nausea, the werewolf pulls out his phone and finds Nolan's number. It rings three times and then is answered, "Nolan's answering service, how can I help you?"

"Who is this?" Isaac asks as he begins to walk down the front porch steps.

"Jackson, who is this?"

"It's Isaac, why do you have Nolan's phone?"

Jackson chuckles, "Because Nolan and I have been fuc–"

There's some rustling on the other side of the phone and Isaac can clearly hear Nolan laugh before the boy in question says into the phone, "What's up Isaac?"

"Hey, have you seen Camilla?"

"Not since last night, why?" Nolan questions.

Isaac bites his lip as his sneakers make contact with the sidewalk, "Because she was supposed to call me last night and never did and when I went over to her dad's house he said he hadn't seen her since yesterday afternoon."

"You didn't come pick her up last night?" Nolan asks, a twinge of panic in his voice.

"No, I didn't and she isn't answering any of my calls or texts – which, I mean, she hasn't done in a while because we've been fighting… but last night we made up and I figured when she said she'd call me last night that meant that she and I could have a further conversation about us."

Nolan sighs, "Okay, save those details for your diary. We need to focus on finding Camilla. Where is Camilla?"

"Look, don't panic, maybe Erica picked her up or something, I'll keep looking and let you know."

"O-okay."

Isaac hangs up and begins walking toward his car when something shiny catches his eye. He walks to the turn of the street and bends down to pick up what looks to be a broken iPhone. The werewolf's heartbeat picks up a bit as he turns the phone around and sees that the iPhone is covered in a Beatles case.

This was Camilla's phone.

Something had happened.

\-------

Lydia takes the pencil and draws his head first. The key, Lydia knows, is to get the jaw right… and his jaw is unique. It isn't exactly square, but it isn't rounded either so it takes a certain skill to get this jaw just right, but she knows she can do it.

Once the jaw is drawn she starts to work on his facial features. His mouth is easy, it's a lot like Stiles' and she knows every curve of his mouth as if it were her own, when she gets his lips draw she moved up to his nose, getting the slight point just right. She draws on the small freckle right at the tip and smiles to herself because it looks really perfect and really, really real.

Now are the eyes, they're the perfect almond shape and as she begins to draw the iris she notices the lifelessness he has in his eyes… it's almost like he's dead.

DEADDEADDEADDEADDEADDEADDEAD _DEADDEAD_ deadDeaDdEADDEADADEADADEAD _deadDEA_

The word echoes in Lydia's head as she continues drawing. She finishes penciling on his brows and now she's down to his neck, first she makes sure she gets the length of it right and then she makes sure that the size of the wound in it is perfect as well.

 _DEAD DEAD dead_ DEADDEADdeaddeadDEad  _DEAd DeAd_

She puts the pencil down for a second and looks at the drawing before her, her heart racing. She knows this face. This is the face that's sat next to her in AP art for the last year… this is the face of a boy she's known since seventh grade.

Finn. It's Finn.

 _F_ inn _DEADdead_ FINNISDEAD _deadDEAD_ Dead

Lydia screams, she has to. She has to alert everyone, he's been killed. Finn is dead, the boy is dead. Lydia is screaming, she's got more air in her lungs than she ever knew she could have in them and every ounce of air is going toward making this scream big.

She looks to her left now and sees Jeanne Geyer sitting beside her covering her ears, cowering, trying to get away from something – some loud noise. Lydia looks to her right and sees Stiles, sees the blood coming from his ear as she continues to scream.

She looks up and sees the model she was supposed to have been drawing covering his ears, trying to escape her piercing scream.

Lydia stops now, a whimper escaping her lips after the scream.

Everyone in the room continues to cower for a few seconds more before they realize that the wailing has ceased. Stiles stands up from where he had been crouched on the floor and rushes to Lydia, pulling her into a hug.

"Are you okay?" he asks, a little too loudly due to the ringing in his ear preventing him from being able to detect his loudness.

The girl nods as she pulls herself out of his arms, tears are sitting on her eyelashes as she says, "You're bleeding."

"What?" Stiles asks as he lifts his hands to his ears, feeling the cold, stickiness of blood. He puts his hands in front of him and sees that, yes he is bleeding. He stifles a chuckle and says, "Quite the scream you got there."

"WHAT. THE. HELL?!" yells Simon Haigh, the teacher of this community art class, "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"

"It was a scream, obviously," Stiles retorts, "you would know what a scream sounded like if you could figure out a way to please Mrs. Haigh every now and then."

Simon grits his teeth and then screams, "OUT! BOTH OF YOU GET THE HELL OUT OF MY CLASS! GET OUUUUUUUT!"

Stiles glares at the man and wraps his arm around Lydia trying to lead her out, but when she resists his glare falls to the strawberry blonde who is staring forward blankly.

"Lydia, what's with the catatonic?" he asks, frustrated.

The girl lifts a hand up, pointing to her drawing, "That's Finn Riley…"

Stiles follows Lydia's finger and sees her drawing now, sees the ferocious slice in his throat and quickly reaches forward and yanks the page off the pad, folding it with haste as he says, "Lydia, we really gotta be going."

"You have seven seconds before I call the police," Simon warns.

"My dad's not one of those police who'll be called, Lydia, so we really gotta make with the going."

Lydia nods and stands, allowing Stiles to lead her out of the room, down the narrow hall past the cooking class and yoga class and out into the parking lot to the Jeep. She gets into the passenger side and watches as Stiles gets in on the driver's side and manages to keep the tears from falling until Stiles has gotten her halfway down Main Street.

\-------

Camilla's eyes are still closed when Spencer comes back. She's awake, but her head was pounding.

Her eyes flash open when she hears a large thud hit the hard floor. There before her lies a vaguely familiar boy.

"Camilla, say hello to our new friend, Finn," Spencer tells her, licking his lips. His eyes shone with an odd twinkle. "You two might have met in the werewolf vs. demon battle… Any memories?"

The black-haired girl can't help but think back to the battle, but instead of picturing an ashy, bloody scene, she sees the look on Isaac's face right before he left her. She didn't know which image was worse.

"Well, you guys have some time to catch up now," he reminds them. He moves over to the door, which was still ajar, opening into a dark space that Camilla couldn't make out. From there, he pulls a metal folding chair. He drags it across the floor, the legs of the chair screeching.

Unfolding the chair, he plops down onto it and observes his captives.

Shocking Camilla, Finn speaks up, "Why can't I leave my vessel? What the hell did you do to me?"

Spencer smiles and looks from Finn to Camilla.

"Do you know the answer, sweetheart?" he inquires. When Camilla doesn't say anything, he keeps talking. "It's an old hunters' trick really, most demons are pretty aware of it, but I'm not surprised your kin haven't taught you well. Though I am surprised Camilla doesn't know of it."

Camilla rolls her eyes, still not showing any fear.

"It's called a Devil's Trap. You guys might not be able to see it, but it's drawn there on the floor," Spencer reveals, gesturing towards the ground underneath Finn.

Camilla strains her eyes to see, though the dark room doesn't show much, no matter how well her eyes have adjusted.

"Oh, well, it won't be important for much longer," Spencer interrupts their staring. "Basically, all it does is keep you from moving and leaving your vessel. I could keep you here for essentially as long as I want, but, ya know, I don't really want you here for that long."

With that, Spencer is quick to stand up and cross the floor over to wear Finn lies, his hands still tied behind his back with a rope. He stops right before the trap, smiling at the boy. He produces a knife from his back pocket, turning it in his hand as he considers his next move.

Finn laughs and spits on the ground, "The trap might be a good idea, but do you really think a simple knife will get rid of me?"

Spencer cocks his head and smiles back at the kid on the floor.

"Man, they really haven't taught you anything have they? Or maybe you're just too stupid to remember." He holds the knife up in the small, dim light. From what Camilla can see, the knife has symbols carved in it; it was no normal knife despite what Finn thought.

"This here is a special knife. It can kill any supernatural being with one stab, really. Though I can also use it for torture, which is my favorite thing," Spencer tells them, his voice clearly giddy.

He takes the knife and shines it with the bottom of his dark green shirt, admiring it as he does.

Neither Finn nor Camilla say a word, unsure of Spencer's next move. But neither of them see it coming when Spencer slides the knife easily into Finn's neck, making one quick move to lunge at the boy and grab him before digging into his flesh.

Camilla can't help but watch as Finn's eyes flash with light, which almost immediately disappears. Spencer pulls the blade out and the boy's body slumps. The man stands up straight, admiring his handy work. He turns back to Camilla and smiles.

"I saw you checking out my knife. You've got one too, don't you?"

Camilla refuses to answer, turning her face away from the man. She hears his heavy footsteps head towards her, and she feels him grab her face and pull it towards his.

"Look at me, princess. You know, this knife can kill supernatural beings, and it still works like a normal knife on humans, so I'd be careful if I were you," he warns, his own face inches from hers.

"If you wanted to kill me, you would've already," Camilla argues back. "Clearly you need me for something, otherwise I'd be dead. Just like good old Finn. Why did you kill him, anyways? Is your plan to kill every fucking supernatural thing in this town? Because, I've got news for you buddy! This is Beacon Hills! Not some normal, postage stamp place. You'll never get rid of them. And messing with Scott, if that's what you're after, you don't stand a chance. Even with your stupid little knife."

Without warning, Spencer slashes the blade against Camilla's stomach, cutting through her shirt and leaving a deep gash. Camilla tenses her body at the pain, kicking her legs out to get away from Spencer.

He grabs her by the hair, forcefully, and her body goes still, since struggling hurt more than not.

"Smart and pretty, but damn, do you have a mouth on you," he whispers, his eyes full of emotion. Camilla couldn't tell what though. "God, we could have so much fun if you remembered your bloodlines and joined me."

Still in pain, blood pouring from her wound Camilla still talks back.

"Join what? You're too much of a pussy to tell me what you're trying to do here. Maybe that's because you really don't know what the fuck you're doing. You're just some idiot hunter who thinks he can save the world from something that doesn't need to be saved."

Right as the last word leaves her mouth, Spencer hits her face, hard. Her vision dances, a mixture of her head injuries and the loss of blood.

"Hit me all you want, you know I'm telling the truth," she pants; even talking hurt.

"God, there's just something about you, Camilla. I can't stand you, but I can't stay away from you," he tells her, his voice a harsh hush. He pulls her even closer, though at this point, it was nearly impossible. Camilla can feel his hard body; hard in more parts than she desired.

Her breathing speeds up as she realizes what Spencer is saying to her.

"Just kill me now, you idiot. The longer you leave me alive, playing these games, the more time they have to find me. And you will. Not. Win. From one hunter to another, you need to leave. I know you think you can make some big change, but you can't. Trust me. I didn't come here to play nice, I came to get my cousin's head out of her ass to to remind her of the enemy. But sometimes, when the enemy is bigger than you, you just have to give in. And sometimes, you realize the enemy really wasn't the worst problem in the world either. I don't say please often, but please, get the fuck out of Beacon Hills," Camilla begs, her eyes locked on Spencer's, trying to get him to do anything, kill her even; anything other than what she knew in her heart he was about to do.

Spencer releases the hard hold on her hair, instead brushing it out of her face, stroking everything as he went. He leans in closer and inhales, his eyes closing momentarily.

"Maybe you're right," he considers, not moving away from her. "But I need to finish what I started, and I have a feeling you'll come around. And even if you don't, I can still have some fun with you until then. Your friends aren't that smart, anyways. We've got some time, baby."

Spencer's hand moves down against Camilla's body, taking its time to feel every inch, every curve.

Camilla closes her eyes, accidentally letting out a small whimper as she tries to pull away.

"Don't be scared, beautiful. I have no intentions of hurting you anymore, at least right now," he breathes heavily as his hand reaches the button on her blood-stained jeans. He slowly undoes the button and watches the girl intently, though she refuses to meet his gaze.

Finding her fire, Camilla kicks out and yells.

"Get the fuck off me you loser! You think taking advantage of a wounded, chained up girl is hot? Get the fuck away, I swear to God I won't stop screaming."

"Oh, baby, I love a screamer," he answers seductively, right before he whips Camilla around, her wrists aching from the chains pulling on her arms and twisting together. Spencer pushes her up against the wall, using one hand to hold her and the other to finish taking off her pants.

The girl tries to fight back, but Spencer just pushes her into the wall harder, pushing her open wound into the hard surface, making it hurt so much worse. Her vision once again begins to fade, and she can see little spots gliding and flashing as the pain and the severity of the situation weigh in on her.

With her jeans around her ankles, Spencer turns her to face him again, still one hand forcing her against the wall. Though she was strong, her injuries and her size didn't do much to help her.

He takes his free hand and dances it across her body once more, stopping on her nearly bare behind and caressing it. He presses his own body on hers, allowing for his other hand to roam her body as well.

Camilla still tries to fight back, a scream bubbling in her throat as she thrashes and moves, trying anything, everything to make him stop.

"You need to stop that, my angel," he says sweetly, his eyes meeting hers. Camilla spits in his face, and attempts to head-butt him. She hits her mark, but it hurts her more than it does him. Angered, Spencer slaps her across the face and holds on to her hair once again, his large, swelling body parts still hard against her.

"Oh, you like it rough? Well I can give it to you, baby. You bet I can." With one hand still free, he unbuckles his own pants. Camilla closes her eyes right as he pulls at his own boxers.

Tears begin to flow from her eyes, mixing with the blood on her face, she begins to scream, but he ignores it as he lifts her up against the wall, her rear resting on his bare middle.

"Please, don't," she wails in between sobs and screams. "Please."

Spencer chuckles, and right before ripping her panties away, says, "Too late."

With one hand on her mouth, and the other gripping her hair, Spencer thrusts himself into Camilla.

\-------

Isaac pushes the glass door of the police station open, heading right for the front desk.

"I'd like to speak with the Sheriff, please, immediately," he demands of the woman sitting at the desk. She looks up at him with her big brown eyes, scanning the boy up and down.

"What do you need her for, sweetie?" she asks, chomping her gum and tapping a pen against the hard wood.

"My girlfriend, well, she's not really my girlfriend but she used to be, is missing. She was out drinking last night and I was supposed to drive her home but she never called and she isn't at home and she isn't at the place she was drinking."

The woman purses her lips before saying, "Well maybe she went off with some other lad who is her boyfriend, honey."

"No, you see, she doesn't have anyone else like that. We had just talked and I was going to pick her up and—"

"What did you say your name was?" she asks, interrupting Isaac as she pulls at her pink blouse, adjusting her cleavage.

"I-I didn't, but my name is Isaac, Isaac Lahey. Please, Sheriff Stilinski is one of my friends' dad, and he wouldn't hesitate to help. Camilla is a good person, she doesn't just disappear or run off without at least a text," Isaac tells the woman, desperate at this point.

Before the woman can respond, a voice says, "Well maybe it's a good thing that Stilinski isn't sheriff, then right? I'm no idiot; sometimes teenage girls run off for a couple days. What with senior year coming to a close, maybe she's out living up her life before everything changes."

Isaac's eyes find the source of the voice and he sees Donna leaning against a wall, her arms crossed with a smirk on her face.

"Donna, you don't know Camilla. She doesn't do that kind of thing. She doesn't need that kind of thing! Her life is lively enough," he argues, his face turning hard.

"Perhaps she changed her mind. Same ol' boyfriend, same ol' town, hell, I'd want to find some change too," she teases, shaking her head.

"Regardless of what you might think, it's your job to look for missing people, or to at least spread the word. You might not care personally, but you're getting paid to care professionally," Isaac whips back, his eyes right on hers.

Licking her lips, Donna asks, "How long you say she's been missing?"

"Since last night. She was supposed to call when she wanted to come home, and the person who she was with right before she went missing said she was just about to call me. But she didn't. And she didn't call anyone else. I found her phone broken outside of the house she was at."

Donna pushes herself off the wall and walks over to the boy, her arms still crossed.

"You said she was drinking… Maybe she dropped her phone and it broke and she decided to walk home. Or walk somewhere else and just passed out there or along the way," Donna suggests, her eyebrows raised.

"No. She would be up by now. She can never sleep when she has a hangover. Plus, someone would have let me know if they'd seen her. I asked all our friends."

Donna chuckles, "Did you ever think that maybe she has other friends that you don't know about?"

Angered, Isaac flails his arms in the air.

"Even if she did, she would have let someone know by now! She's not irresponsible, I know her. She knows that we would be worried. She knows I'd be worried."

"Maybe she just doesn't care," Donna offers in a low voice.

"Look, you're not some psychiatrist, we're not trying to figure out why or why not she did or didn't do something. You need to FIND her! So instead of heckling me like you do everyone else, why don't you do your damn job and stop being such a—"

"I'd watch your mouth if I were you, kiddo," she warns, her eyes scanning the room, as everyone who was around heard Isaac's last few words. She turns on her heel and walks over to the desk, picking up a clipboard and pretending to read the papers on it.

"She hasn't been missing for 24 hours, so my hands are tied," she says after a minute, her back still turned. "Come back tomorrow if she still hasn't turned up, though I'm sure she will. Maybe with a new tattoo."

"Thanks for nothing," Isaac mutters, turning back towards the door and heading outside to try and piece together what the hell could have happened to Camilla.

\-------

Melissa sits in the living room with Max curled up in a ball by her feet. She flips through the channels, cruising past  _Full House_ ,  _The Good Wife_ , and  _Keeping Up with the Kardashians_  finally settling on  _Gilmore Girls_ when Scott comes walking into the room and plops down in the arm chair.

Max stirs slightly and when he sees the new arrival in the room is Scott he lays back down and shuts his eyes.

" _Gilmore Girls_  again?" Scott asks, "Weren't you just watching this last night?"

"You could go out, you know," Melissa retorts, "really, I won't be upset."

Scott chuckles, "It's okay."

"Come on, you and Stiles are all patched up, why not go hang with him?"

"He's with Lydia, and I'm not in the mood to be the third wheel with them right now."

"What about Camilla and Nolan?" Melissa suggests.

Scott lets out a laugh, "I didn't know you were pro-teen drinking as a form of coping!"

"Excuse me?"

"Nolan and Camilla have a tendency to hit the bottle instead of actually dealing with their problems. Camilla fights with Isaac, she drinks. Nolan's dad leaves the state or, hell, maybe the country, and he drinks. They're doing their best, but neither of them are exactly walking on sunshine," Scott says.

"Okay, so Nolan and Camilla are out… what about Isaac?"

"And listen to him whine about Camilla, no thanks."

"Jackson?"

"And listen to him whine about Nolan, no thanks."

"Allison?"

Scott feels his heart tighten, "Why would you suggest Allison?"

Melissa smiles coyly, "Rumor has it you still have feelings for her. You still love her… some would say. Some gossips, you know I try to avoid it but sometimes I just get yanked right on in and I can't help but listen."

"Who said I still loved her?"

"Stiles may have mentioned something…"

Scott sighs, "And here I thought he was my friend."

"You thought wrong, son."

"Bummer."

Melissa eyes her son for a moment before she asks, "So… is there any truth to the rumors."

"Mom…"

"Come on, Scott, talk to me."

"There's a lot of unresolved… stuff between Allison and I, and yeah, Violet broke up with me partly because she thought I still loved Allison and partly because of the whole Michigan college thing, but I mean neither of those things are totally concrete?"

"What do you mean, I thought Michigan was a sure thing."

Scott shrugs, "I thought it was, but… you're here in Beacon Hills and Stiles is going to be here for the police academy and I mean I need to be in Erica and Derek's baby's life or else that little girl is going to grow up all bark and bite."

"And you wanting to stay her doesn't have anything to do with the fact that Allison is going to be at UC Beacon Hills too?" Melissa asks.

"Mom…"

Melissa shakes her head, "Scott, look, I think it is really important that you think about what you're doing here. UCBH is a great college but you got into Michigan – you loved Michigan, I spent more than your college tuition on Michigan gear…"

"I know, I know, I gotta go to Michigan."

Melissa shakes her head again, "I wasn't finished; I don't think you  _have_ to do anything other than what makes you happy. Yes, the Michigan Bookstore took us for a good chunk of change on clothing, but if being here in Beacon Hills – being close to your family is what is important to you and is what will make you happy, I think you have to do it. And whether you're willing to admit that Allison is factoring in majorly here or not, I support your choice."

"So you won't be mad if I go to UCBH?"

Melissa smiles, "I will not… your father, however, may feel differently and I will gladly let you have that conversation with him."

"Dad…"

"Oh, yeah, dad," Melissa says as she runs her hand through her curls, "you do what you have to do, sweetie. Don't let me or Rafael influence you one way or the other. Follow your heart, Scott."

\-------

Jackson pulls the Porsche into Nolan's driveway and puts it in park and looks over at the boy with a smile on his face, "You look good with hickies all over your neck, you really do."

Nolan rolls his eyes, "Have I told you lately that I loathe you?"

"I think you mispronounced love."

Nolan chuckles and leans over the middle console and places a soft kiss on Jackson's lips before leaning back in his seat, "I'm glad we're done with the fighting."

"Hey, you're the sun. I'm just here to revolve around you."

"That's what I like to hear."

Jackson smiles, staring at the word DARTMOUTH written in green on the front of Nolan's shirt. The werewolf's heart flutters as he thinks of all the times he's seen Nolan in this shirt, how good he looks in it even though it's possibly the rattiest shirt he's ever seen. Jackson shakes his head and then says to Nolan, "I'll see you for breakfast tomorrow?"

"You know I don't do breakfast."

"But it's the most important meal of the day!" Jackson protests.

Nolan nods, "Yeah, well while you enjoy your poached eggs and French toast, I'll be enjoying my cheeseburger and fries thank you very much."

"Goodnight, Nolan."

"Goodnight, Jackson."

Nolan is out of the car then and walking toward his house and up the front steps. He knows Jackson is watching him and smiles to himself as he puts his key in the lock of the front door and enters, his dog greeting him excitedly upon his entrance.

The boy crouches down and pets his dog, "Hi, Jane Fonda, hi big girl."

"Nolan," Annalise calls coming out of the living room and into the foyer, "you are not going to believe who came to see me today."

"Bono?"

"Close, but actually it was Isaac."

Nolan nods slowly and stands, "Was he looking for Camilla?"

"That he was."

"I take it he didn't find her."

"No, but he did find Spencer naked in the kitchen."

Nolan groans, "We eat in that kitchen… and Spencer had his gross naked man butt all over the place?"

"He's shaven, if that makes things any better."

"Believe it or not, it doesn't."

Annalise puts a hand out and pushes Nolan's head to the side, "These are some interestingly shaped bruises… almost mouth like."

Nolan pushes his sister's hand away, "Okay, you have a naked man running around while kids you counsel are stopping by – I hope you know that that's usually frowned upon by the school district."

"Fine, fine, I won't comment on the slutty hickies if we can just pretend like your friend didn't see my boyfriend naked in the kitchen, deal?"

"Deal," Nolan agrees, "but I think keeping Isaac quiet is going to prove to be a job of work."

"Yeah, well," Annalise sighs as she turns around to go back into the living room.

"Hey you don't know where Camilla ran off to last night, do you?"

"No clue," Annalise hollers back.

Nolan heads toward the kitchen then, trying not to imagine his sister's boyfriend standing around naked in the room when he feels his phone ringing in his pocket. He quickly pulls it out and sees Jackson's name flashing on the screen.

Nolan smiles and slides his finger across the screen to answer, "Miss me already?" he asks.

"No," Jackson says flatly, "well, yeah a little, but Scott just texted me – we're having a pack meeting at Isaac's."

"About what?"

"Isaac thinks Camilla was kidnapped."

\-------

Stiles crosses his arms and uncrosses them for the fifth time before he finally says, "So she's gone. Gone, gone… as in not here anymore, she's been taken. Somebody took her in the night outside of Nolan's house."

"I think it is very clear that that's the thought here," Lydia says, "but let's not overlook the whole my scream and the dead man drawing."

"We don't know that Finn is dead," Scott protests.

"Scott, how many times have I been wrong with the death predictions?" Lydia retorts.

"Well, never," Scott answers.

Lydia nods her head, "So when I say that Finn Andrews has had his throat slit and is laying on a floor someplace dead as a doornail, then I mean he's dead as a doornail. Deader than a doornail even."

"Gee, that's a fun story – Hans Christian Anderson?" Stiles quips.

"This could not be less of a time to joke, Stiles," Isaac snaps.

"I'm with Isaac on this," Nolan adds, "I mean, you know I love some patented Stiles Snark, but if Camilla is missing, if she's hurt… if she's walking down the same path that Finn was walking down then the snark needs to cease."

"Sorry," Stiles says, "sorry. Okay, so Camilla's been 'napped, what do we do? What's the plan?"

Allison taps her foot against the floor, "Find her?"

"Helpful," Isaac scoffs, "that was really, really helpful."

"Well what do you want to do, Isaac? Tear Beacon Hills apart looking for her? We have no idea where she is, I mean when you were at Nolan's today did you pick up her scent?" Allison asks, "Did you get any indication of where she went? Do we even know she was actually taken? So you found her phone broken out on the street, so what? Nolan, had you and Camilla been drinking?"

"Yes…" Nolan answers.

"And if memory serves, Camilla has a tendency to get a little violent when she drinks. Erica, remember the time she put her fist through your wall at Lydia's lame attempt at girl's night?"

"I… I do remember that," Erica says, "she's right. Camilla did that. She punched right through the wall and tore her knuckles up… just horribly."

"So, see," Allison sighs, "for all we know Camilla tossed her phone because she couldn't figure out how to unlock it when she was all drunk and then went for a midnight stroll that turned into an early morning jaunt and now she's settled up in a hotel or hitchhiked to Santa Monica or something. Camilla is nothing if she's not crafty."

"Camilla wouldn't just leave," Nolan says, "she wouldn't just tell me to run off to go make up with Jackson and have a plan to meet Isaac and then just throw it out the window. That's not Camilla, she wouldn't do that."

"She wouldn't go rogue and do what she wanted like when she went after the twins and that Jessica bitch last summer?" Jackson asks, receiving a dirty look from both Isaac and Nolan, "Sorry, I'm just saying, Camilla sometimes goes a little… okay, I'm done talking."

"Good idea," Nolan says, patting Jackson on the knee.

Allison stands up now and walks toward the door, "Look, Camilla is gonna show up when she wants to show up. And if she is in trouble, well, she's an Argent. She can take care of herself."

"Allison you are way out of line," Isaac says standing up, "Camilla was taken. Somebody grabbed her, I couldn't pick up on her scent past Nolan's yard probably because of his neighbor's sprinkler system, but I could pick up on something in his yard. I could smell fear."

"Yeah, okay, Sparky," Allison says with an eyeroll, "can you smell my disinterest?"

"Camilla is your cousin, Allison. What is with the attitude?" Lydia asks.

Allison shakes her head and walks out of the loft, leaving the rest of the pack behind.

"I'll take Family Drama for 200, Alex," Stiles says just above a whisper.

"I'm gonna see if I can catch up with her," Scott says worriedly as he hurries to the door.

"Well if the Alpha is out of here so am I," Erica sighs, "Derek's probably thrown the baby out with the bathwater – literally."

"Why is no one taking this seriously?" Isaac groans.

Lydia stands up and begins pacing as she watches Erica walk out of the loft. The girl rubs her hands together and heaves a heavy sigh, "Finn… Roxy… Ms. Morell… they all have to have something in common."

"And there was a hooker," Stiles says, "she was killed too. I can't think of anything she would have in common with the others – I mean they all at least have a common link with being somehow involved with the high school."

"Ms. Morell was a druid and Finn's possessed," Nolan says, "or he was last time I checked."

"So there's a supernatural link there, and if we're looking to connect Camilla – well, she's a hunter," Lydia points out, "could the hooker have been something supernatural? And Roxy maybe?"

"Maybe Roxy was just a red herring? To throw us off the trail, make us think the killings are random?" Jackson suggests.

"Or she was a message: be friends with werewolves and die," Nolan says with a frown.

"We're thinking we've got a supernatural murderer on our hands?" Stiles asks.

"But if that's what it is, why go after Camilla? Last time I checked she was a werewolf  _hunter_  shouldn't this killer guy be all for her marching around town with her knives and guns searching for Big Bad Wolves to kill?" Jackson asks the group.

"That was helpful, that was a very helpful insight," Nolan smiles.

"Wasn't really looking for validation, but thank you," Jackson laughs. "Does anyone else follow my thought here?"

"Well she isn't doing a whole lot of hunting," Stiles reminds them, "I mean, her best friend is a half demon and her boyfriend is a werewolf, she's good friends with a banshee, she's godmother to a werewolf, I mean she's got a lot of ties to the creatures of the night she's supposed to be… ya know… killing."

"So this murderer went after Camilla because she's not doing her job," Lydia concludes.

"And she never wanted to," Isaac mumbles, his mind filled with worries.

"She didn't?" Jackson asks, "Because if I remember she really did a number on the twins… and Jessica… and Reina… like if Buffy and Blade had some angry baby and then started shooting it up with roids. You're telling me she didn't want to do that?"

"No, she didn't, she felt like she was sort of forced into the whole thing," Nolan tells him. "She was trying to make the best of it, she started training with Graham because she thought it would make Allison proud – and as it turns out Allison couldn't care less about her."

"What are we going to do?" Isaac asks, "We agree she was taken, we agree that there's a supernatural link, but Allison is right; unless we want to completely tear Beacon Hills apart looking for her we're hopeless."

"We could go to the police," Lydia suggests, "they're involved as it is."

"I already went to the police," Isaac says, "and let me tell you, Sheriff Lamb is completely useless."

"Yeah, Donna's been a pain in the ass since she joined the department six years ago," Stiles says, "the fact that she somehow got the Sheriff job is frightening. Truly frightening. If there's anyone who shouldn't have power, it's Donna."

"Incompetence aside," Lydia continues, "if we can't go to the police for help and we can't go ripping every door off every hinge, what do we do?'

"We have to find her," Jackson says.

"Yeah, but  _how_?" Stiles requests, hoping someone would give him an answer.

"Maybe we don't find her," Lydia whispers, stopping her pacing, "maybe we find who took her."

"How do we do that?" Nolan asks.

Stiles perks up, "We know that he looks like Derek. Right after Ms. Morell was killed Derek was arrested for her murder, but his alibi was air tight and he didn't have any motive and they didn't have any proof besides a coked out homeless guy, so they had to let him go. That's a clue if there's ever been a clue."

"So who do we know that looks like Derek?" Jackson asks the group.

"I'm drawing a blank," Lydia admits.

Nolan shrugs, "I can't think of anyone…"

"There's your sister's boyfriend, Steven or whatever," Isaac points out, "you certainly have to have noticed the resemblance."

"It's Spencer and, well, yeah I guess he looks a little Dereky, but…" Nolan confesses.

"But what?"

"I just don't want to believe that my sister's taste in men is  _that_  tragic."

Isaac groans, "Nolan, come on."

"What do you want from me, Isaac? I agree that Camilla was kidnapped, but you want me to instantly believe that my sister is dating some sociopathic murdering psycho? If I tell Annalise our hunch she's going to think I'm being rude and judgmental and she won't believe it and things between she and I will get bad again and they've just gotten good. We don't have any proof that it's Spencer besides the fact that he looks like Derek – but Stiles said it himself, the key witness was a coked out homeless man. Coked out. On drugs. Following that logic any dark haired man could look like Derek. Stiles has dark hair, think maybe he's been pulling a Ghostface?"

"So we find proof," Jackson says, "irrefutable proof that Spencer is a sociopathic murdering psycho. Does that sound fair to everyone?"

Stiles smiles, "Guess we oughta start watching  _American Psycho_ so we can get some notes."

\-------

Her head slumped and her body numb, Camilla rests in the room. Alone except for Finn's body, still rotting on the floor a few feet away.

At this point, her pants are all the way on the other side of the room, her shirt ripped in half, as she hangs from the ceiling in only a bra and panties. Both with blood on them.

Spencer had left after he found himself satisfied, leaving Camilla a crying, snotting mess. He had been gone for what seemed like hours.

Much to her dismay, she hears his familiar footsteps and braces herself, worried he might be coming back for more; to hurt her more.

The door opens and in walks Spencer with a plastic bag hung on his arm. He smiles as he sees her.

"Hello, my pet," he greets her, pulling the abandoned metal chair nearer to her and taking a seat. "Did ya miss me?"

"Fuck you," Camilla spits out, turning her body away as much as she could.

"So feisty," he admires. "I love it."

He sets the bag on the floor and pulls out a paper bowl with a lid. For a moment, Camilla thought it was for her, but Spencer began eating the soup inside, not offering any to the black haired girl.

"So, after our little rendezvous, I decided I haven't been fair to you," he says after a sip of soup, his eyes softening. "I'm going to tell you my whole plan."

Camilla listens as he begins.

"So, as you know I'm here for the supernatural. But not just to kill them. To expose them. To expose the fools that know about them and don't care. People like you."

He stands up unexpectedly, setting his soup on the floor, and begins pacing. He rubs his chin intently as he continues.

"You see, I do know Beacon Hills is a special place for supernaturals. That's why I started here. All the cult bullshit and murders and mysteries. Hell, you guys have to build a new school almost every semester. It's so funny that the truth is so clear, but no one wants to believe it. No one can even begin to fathom what's really going on. I started with Roxy, mistakenly. You see, I thought she had more of a pull in this group, but the idiot didn't even know supes existed. The others were easy. I just pulled out my special knife and they would say anything to save their lives, giving away secrets, all the supes they knew. But I killed them anyways, of course. And I found a common theme. The stupid werewolves. Scott and his little minions seemed to be the center of all activity here. So I watched you guys, and I stalked your social media and the newspapers, and moved in on Annalise; God she was easy to get answers from."

He moves back over to the chair, grabbing the back of it and resting against it.

"And that's why I was led to you. I mean, basically all of your friends are supes, so they weren't a good choice. And there was Allison, but there's something tense going on with her. And having Annalise be with me and you be with Nolan all the time, man, it was just so easy to figure all this out."

Spencer lets go of the chair and moves closer to Camilla, grabbing the chains from the ceiling to pull her body right up against his. She struggles to move back, but he holds her too tightly so that all she can do is turn her head to the side. She closes her eyes as his hot breath hits her cheek.

"What you don't realize is that you, the sheriff, Scott's mother, whoever else… you're all enablers. Letting these… these creatures act like they're humans; walking amongst you and sleeping in your beds!" Spencer yells the last few words, shoving Camilla off of him and into the wall behind her. Her body smacks into it with a loud thud, the chains on her wrists tugging at her arms.

Spencer turns on his heel, facing the other wall as he continues his speech.

"What happened to you, Camilla? You're an Argent, a hunter, and you've gone soft. Demons, banshees, werewolves… God knows what else. What happened to protecting the human race?" Spencer turns back to face her, hurt and concern on his face, but those expressions quickly melt into anger. "You're lucky I'm here to set your minds right. I can fix this, even though you and the monsters in this town have created a big mess. Soon enough they'll find you, unless your mutts are too stupid and I'll have to leave breadcrumbs. But they'll get here—"

"And then they'll kill your dumb ass because they're supernatural! Remember?" Camilla interrupts him, her voice full of anger. "You don't stand a fucking chance."

Spencer doesn't react. He stands silently for a moment before walking slowly towards Camilla, his eyes never leaving her face.

"Don't worry about me beautiful. They'll be too busy worrying about you to notice me. And when they do…" Spencer smiles, not saying another word. His right hand moves behind his back, pulling something from his pocket as it does. "I'll try and stay away from that beautiful little face, I've done enough to it and it would be such a shame for you to have to have a closed casket."

\-------


	41. Killing Me Softly (5x05)

Annalise sits in the living room with Charlton Heston sleeping beside her. The woman absently pets the white cat as Kourtney yells at Scott on her TV screen. Annalise rolls her eyes and thanks her lucky stars her relationship isn't so stressful as the front door opens and Nolan enters.

The boy comes into the living room and plops down on the sofa beside his sister and sighs.

"So what's the word?" Annalise asks as she changes the channel.

Nolan bites his lip and says, "We've come to the conclusion that Camilla was kidnapped."

"Kidnapped?"

"The kid was napped," Nolan replies while running his fingers through his hair, clearly stressed out, "we don't know who took her, but we do think that whoever did it was doing it because she was a hunter who sort of neglected to hunt… and that all the other murders were done because the people were supernatural or had ties to the supernatural community."

"Damn. That's heavy."

"The heaviest."

"And you have no indication of who took her?"

"None," Nolan says seamlessly, not wanting to spring the Spencer Theory on her without proof.

"Bummer."

"All we know for sure is that there was a sketch artist brought in and a sketch sketched of who did it," Nolan tells his sister as Charlton Heston wakes up and walks over Annalise to come and lay down in Nolan's lap, "but the problem is that since Stiles' dad is off the force we have no way to get our hands on that sketch."

"Won't they release it eventually?"

"Probably, but time is of the essence here. We don't know what's happening to Camilla. We don't if she's alive or if she's… if she's uh…"

"Don't. Don't do that. Camilla is alive."

"You don't know that."

Annalise nods slowly, "No, I don't. But you don't know that she's dead either. Look, Malia is dating Ben and Ben works for the sheriff's department. I could ask her to see if she can get the sketch."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. We're gonna find this son of a bitch, Nolan. We're gonna find him and we're going to find Camilla and everything is going to be fine."

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Allison is just sitting down again after grabbing a container of leftover Chinese take-out from her fridge. She barely has a blanket wrapped around her slim figure before she hears a knock on her door.

Irritated and intrigued, she puts down the remote she was about to point at the TV and gets up to answer to the knocker. Looking through the peephole, Allison sees Scott, his jaw looking even more crooked in the lens.

Rolling her eyes, she pulls the door open. Scott's lips turn into a small smile, but Allison knows he wasn't there for just a friendly chat.

"What do you want, Scott? It's Sunday morning, and it's my time to be alone," she asks, turning her back on him and leaving the door open as she heads back to her roost.

Scott follows her in hesitantly, shutting the door quietly. He leans against a wall rather than sitting down, his red t-shirt looking bright against the tan paint.

"I just wanted to check in on you, see if you had heard from Camilla or thought of anything else…" he tells her, crossing his arms as he does.

Allison takes a bite of Chinese before saying, "If I had heard from her, you know I would say something. I'm not an idiot."

"I-I wasn't saying that," Scott frowns. "What's your deal, Allison? Your cousin goes missing and you act like you could care less about her being found. Did you guys have a fight?"

Allison huffs and slams her food onto the coffee table, spilling a few grains of rice.

"No, we didn't have a fight. I just don't think you guys are giving her enough credit. Camilla is a secretive person. She and Isaac aren't together, so she doesn't really have anything tying her down here. She loves Nolan, but even he is no match for her spontaneity," she pauses to fiddle with a hangnail. "She's always been this way."

Scott ponders her statement for a moment, considering the truth that Camilla often did her own thing… the jazz bar, training with Graham… But he knew there was more to Allison's feelings than she was letting on.

"Camilla is independent, but she's not that irresponsible. She wouldn't leave her broken phone outside of Nolan's house and disappear without a word. She has school to finish, she has friends, and she has family… Are you forgetting she's your family?" Scott asks the girl, his eyes locked on her face, though she wouldn't look up at him.

"Unfortunately, no, I haven't forgotten I'm related to her," Allison quips.

Scott sighs and moves further into Allison's apartment, eventually taking a seat on a chair that matches the couch Allison is perched on.

"What's really going on here?" Scott inquires, his eyes as soft as his voice.

Allison bites her lip, taking a moment to consider her next words. Finally, she slumps back on the couch, her body no longer rigid.

"It's USF!" she reveals, throwing her arms up in the air. "Camilla got in and didn't even bother telling me. We used to be best friends, or at least I thought we were. We told each other everything. I know things have changed, but I still thought that maybe she would think of me and want me to know. She's leaving Beacon Hills and I didn't even cross her mind."

The two sit in silence as Scott realizes Allison's hurt. It wasn't that she didn't care Camilla was missing, it was that she was afraid to miss her.

Clearing his throat, Scott tells her, "Allison, no one really knew about USF, she just found out. I think she was more excited for herself and what that meant for her future. She needed time to be happy for her, so she could celebrate. It didn't mean she was never going to tell you."

"But she celebrated with Nolan. Not me," Allison points out.

"But do you blame her? When is the last time you invited her over just to hang out? Have you really made as much of an effort as Nolan has been lately? Her heart was broken and Nolan was there to pick up the pieces, and you just watched."

Tears run down Allison's pale face as she cries out, "Okay! I get it! I suck! Not only did I treat Camilla like shit, but now she's gone and who knows if she's dead or alive! But I'm sure I'll be the last to find out." The girl's body shudders in a quiet sob as she buries her face in her arms. Scott is quick to move next to her, putting an arm around her.

"We'll find her, I promise."

\-------

Malia sets her phone back on her nightstand after reading a few texts. She rolls over on her bed and wraps her arms around the sleeping body next to her.

"Mmmm, five more minutes, Mom," Ben teases, turning over to plant a little kiss on Malia's nose.

"Hilarious," she jokes. She nuzzles her face into his neck, embracing the warmth and scruff. After a moment, she pulls her head back. "Babe."

"Oh boy, what is it now?" he asks in a playful manner.

"I just have a big favor to ask…" she trails off, using her puppy dog eyes to do the rest.

"Is it illegal?"

"Maybe."

Sighing, Ben pulls the girl closer, "You're lucky I love you."

"Yay! she squeals. "Okay, so, I need you to look into the recent murders that have been happening. Like, any patterns, any witnesses, any—"

"We're just jumping right into it, then?" he interrupts with an amused tone.

Malia frowns, "Well yeah, I mean, murder is serious. You of all people should know that."

"Again, you're lucky I love you," he reminds her before crawling out of bed. He holds out his hand for Malia to join.

After Ben pulls out all his case files (Malia knew he had copies made) the two go at it, looking at every murder in Beacon Hills over the past few months.

Malia is mindlessly flipping through pages; most of the information was stuff Ben had already told her, or that she saw on the news. She began to see why the murders are unsolved. Just when she is about to give up, something catches her eye; a sketch.

"Ben, what is this from?" she asks, holding it up.

The man glances over momentarily before turning back to his own work, "Oh, that's a possible suspect. Remember that hooker that died? Her friend said she saw this guy with her before it happened. Not sure who he is or if he has anything to do with other murders… It's basically been a dead end."

Malia studies the face for a bit, trying to figure out what seemed so familiar about the man. Something clicks in her mind, and she remembers.

"Oh my God… Ohhhhh my God."

\-------

"Oh my God!" Susan cheers as she opens her front door to reveal Isaac. "I'm so happy you're here, sweetie."

She pulls Isaac into an embrace, which lasts a bit too long for Isaac's comfort, but he lets it happen anyways.

"We've just been going out of our minds worrying about Camilla," she tells him as she gestures for Isaac to come inside. Ron is sitting on the couch, his face stoic as he glances up at the boy.

"Isaac," he acknowledges with a nod.

"Ron, how are you holding up?" he asks carefully. The man merely shrugs. His hair is unkempt and his knuckles are white.

Susan takes her place next to Ron, folding their hands together.

"We're doing okay. The police station is finally cooperating. Sort of," she tells him, her face tight with unexpressed emotions.

"I swear to God that Lamb woman is the worst possible choice for a sheriff. Shouldn't even be police if you ask me," Ron mumbles, his eyes staring at a blank spot on the wall.

"I'm sure she's doing the best she can," Susan offers. "She is a very busy woman."

Ron mutters something under his breath, shaking his head as he does.

Suddenly, Susan jumps up, "Oh my goodness, I'm being so rude! Isaac, honey, would you like something to eat? I'm sure you haven't had a decent meal these last couple of days and I really need something to take my mind off of this sad situation. How does a grilled cheese sound? In honor of Camilla."

Isaac nods politely. He wasn't really hungry, but he knew Susan needed to be needed.

The woman treads into the kitchen and disappears, leaving Ron and Isaac alone.

Almost making Isaac jump, Ron speaks, "You know, I could have never imagined my life would be like this when I first came to Beacon Hills. I'm remarried, my daughter is in love with a werewolf… Hell, we pretty much came to try and knock some sense into my brother and Allison. But you guys threw us for a loop, didn't you?"

Isaac is silent, unsure of what to say to the man.

"But, Isaac, I wouldn't have it any other way," he reveals. "I haven't seen my daughter smile as much, laugh as much, as she has when she's with you. I don't know what's going on between you two, but if we find her, when we find her, don't let her go, okay?"

Isaac gulps, nodding his head.

"I won't, never again."

\-------

Annalise and Spencer watch  _Blue Velvet_ in silence. Rain pelts the windows on either side of the fireplace and Annalise nuzzles into Spencer even more closely. The man tightens his grip around his girlfriend when her cellphone vibrates beside her on the couch.

The girl gets out of her boyfriend's tender embrace and grabs her phone to see a text from Malia. Eagerly Annalise opens the text to read the information Malia had gotten her.

"I'm sorry," the message reads as a second message appears on her screen, this one a picture.

It was Spencer.

The sketch artist had drawn Spencer.

Spencer had taken Camilla.

Spencer had killed Roxy Daribon.

Spencer was the murderer.

Annalise stands up, her heart in her throat and spits out, "I'm going to let Jane Fonda out. It's been a while."

Wordlessly Spencer nods and watches as Annalise heads out of the living room, calling the dog as she goes. The man focuses his attention back on the David Lynch classic, wondering why Annalise was acting so oddly.

Annalise is in the kitchen with the dog and when Jane Fonda goes outside Annalise is quick to follow, dialing her brother's number faster than she's ever dialed a number in her life. The girl's palms are sweating as she puts the phone to her ear and waits for her brother to answer.

\-------

Nolan and Lydia sit in the art room putting together the last of their AP Art portfolios. Nolan is putting fresh matboard on a painting he did of peonies when he looks over at his red headed friend and says, "Isn't this weird to you?"

"Isn't what weird?" Lydia asks not bothering to look up from the house she was busily drawing.

"Being here. Doing last minute things for our classes when our friend is missing. Literally kidnapped. Our friend was snatched and here we are just acting like normal teenagers. Like we aren't Beelzebub and the Banshee."

"We sound like superheroes."

"I don't feel very superheroic though. I feel helpless. Hopeless even."

Lydia shrugs, "It's going to work out. It is. It always has in the past. Even when one of us dies it works out because we come back to life. Jackson died after all that Kanima nonsense and poof there he was, alive again. Allison died and Scott brought her back. Erica died and she came back. The way I see it we aren't just a pack we're also immortals."

"That sounds very Stiles, Miss Martin," Nolan comments.

"He's rubbing off on me," The girl says as she glances at her artwork before she goes back to editing it, "which is okay with me. I love him."

"What's not to love?"

"The farting," Lydia deadpans, "he doesn't do it often around me, but the farting is something I do not love in the slightest."

Nolan laughs as he puts tape on the back of his painting to make sure the matboard stays when suddenly his phone is ringing. He grabs it and sees that the person calling him is Annalise, he picks the phone up and hurries out of the classroom as he slides his finger to answer his call.

Outside the school Stiles pulls his Jeep into the parking lot and throws it into park. He grabs the coffee he'd bought for Lydia out of the cup holder and climbs out of his blue vehicle just as a sleek Porsche comes racing into the spot right next to him. Stiles frowns, knowing exactly who he was about to have to deal with.

"Stilinski," Jackson says with a smirk, "how ya doing?"

"I'd be better if you were still in England," Stiles says spitefully, "but I'm managing. What are you doing at school on a Sunday? Shouldn't you be sculpting your abs or your hair or something?"

"You spend a lot of time thinking about my abs, Stiles?"

Stiles rolls his eyes and says, "I spend more time plotting how many different ways I could kill you and get away with it, if I'm being honest. Why are you here, Jackson?"

Jackson holds up a to-go cup of coffee and says merrily, "I promised Nolan a coffee while he was busy putting together his AP stuff. I've been working harder to keep my promises to him, to be a better boyfriend."

"So does that mean you're going to be steering clear of Lydia? Because if you are trying to steer clear of Lydia you should probably turn that hairy werewolf ass of yours around and head back to your castle because Lydia is in there with him."

"So this hostility is because of my kiss with Lydia last summer? I should've known."

"Yeah, you should have," Stiles says sharply.

Jackson looks to the ground, "Look, Stiles, I didn't mean to… with Lydia I just… I'm not perfect, okay? I mean, yeah I'm hot and charismatic and teachers love me and I'm a good athlete and a good student, but I'm not perfect."

"Wow, Jackson, don't be too hard on yourself there," Stiles butts in sarcastically.

"My point is, I made a mistake. In fact, in our long history together I've made enough mistakes to fill the MOMA and I've never even thought about apologizing, largely because I figured it wouldn't do any good. You hate me."

"I do."

"You hate me a lot."

"You are the Joker to my Batman."

Jackson nods, "Exactly. I mean you and I are basically the nemeses of the group and I think it's been a great run. I've loved being the pain in your ass, a slight gay pun intended, but honestly I'm kind of over it. I know I sort of took a hot crap on you and Lydia last summer and I know that I screwed things up major majorly with Nolan multiple times, but I am trying to be better."

"Ya know when David Carradine tried to make things better with Uma Thurman in  _Kill Bill_  he wound up killing her fiancé and putting her in a coma. So you can understand my hesitance here. Plus, I've been hating you for the better part of eighteen years."

"Well don't get it twisted, I'm not trying to be your friend here. I don't want to be friends with you. I think your jokes are stupid and I think that the only redeemable thing about you is that Lydia, for some crazy reason, loves you."

"And I think the only redeemable thing about you is that Nolan loves you, even though I think Deucalion would be a more reliable mate for him than you."

Jackson rolls his eyes and begins walking toward the school again with Stiles at his side now, "All I'm suggesting is that we cut the petty crap and act civil. No more backhanded bull, just a mutual understanding of each other."

Stiles shrugs, "I guess that's doable."

Jackson and Stiles are silent now as they enter the school and make their way down the hallway toward the art room. Stiles enters first and sees Lydia sitting at a desk with her arms bent back behind her. The boy rushes to hear and puts a hand on her shoulder, "Lydia, what's going on?"

"3257 3257 3257 3257 3257," the girl says just above a whisper.

Stiles looks at her and sees the blank look in her normally expressive eyes and says, "What does that mean? Lydia, what does that mean? Lydia, come back to me."

"3257 3257 3257 3257," she continues to whisper.

"Guys," Nolan says as he comes walking back into the room, "my sister just called me. Isaac was right, Spencer is the killer. Annalise got her friend Malia to get her hands on the police artist's sketch of him and… it's Spencer. It's him."

"So what do we do?" Jackson asks.

"Uh, what's going on with her?" Nolan asks pointing at Lydia.

"I'm guessing this is banshee business," Stiles says.

"O-okay, well, Spencer is at the house with Annalise so I told her to keep him occupied right after she told me she knows where Camilla is."

"She knows where Camilla is?" Jackson asks.

Nolan nods, "She isn't one hundred percent, but this is the first lead we've gotten, so, anyway Annalise says that Camilla is probably at his house. She said that any time they've been together it's been at our house or at a restaurant and Annalise knows he has a house but she's never seen it."

"Okay, okay, where's the house," Stiles asks, "did she have the address."

"3257 3257 3257," Lydia says more loudly, he arms being pulled back more tightly by invisible bounds.

"She's right… It's 3257 Washington Way," Nolan informs them.

Lydia's arms fall forward now and she blinks hard before she says, "We need to get there now," her now free hand going up to rest on the picture the girl had spent nearly all day working on. It is a picture of an old house with a long driveway and a mailbox at the end with the number 3257 written on it.

\-------

Annalise hangs up the phone with a heavy heart.

It was Spencer.

Spencer was the murderer.

How? How could this happen? How could she Annalise Marie Hayes, age twenty-five, demon hunter with a masters in school counseling be in love with an actual, flesh and blood serial killer? Annalise swallows hard and heads back into the house, leaving Fonda in the backyard.

"Hey," Annalise calls to her murderous boyfriend as she walks back into the kitchen, "do you want some popcorn? I'm feeling popcorn."

The girl opens the cabinet that houses the perfect movie snack and grabs a bag from the box and quickly takes off the plastic wrapper and puts it in the microwave. She pushes the button on the microwave that says 'popcorn' and watches as the bag begins to spin around on the turntable. Annalise tries to ignore the fear in her heart as images of the man she thought she was in love with slicing and dicing the supernatural population of Beacon Hills fill her head.

She shudders and walks toward the fridge to grab something to drink. Yanking the door open the dark haired girl inspects the contents of her fridge and frowns, it's empty. There's a container of cottage cheese and three yogurts that Annalise knows are far past their expiration date. The Hayes were famous for eating out and apparently they didn't even have any water.

Annalise shuts the door and gasps when she sees Spencer standing right behind it.

"Jesus," she says, her heart fully fluttering, "you scared me, babe. Oy."

The timer on the microwave beeps then and Spencer wordlessly walks over and gets it out. He sets it on the counter and stares at the blue bag.

"I hope you aren't banking on having anything other than room temp tap water, because all we've got are disgusting dairy products," Annalise continues, "I think maybe there's still coffee. I know that Nolan gave up cigarettes and is using coffee as his newest vice so chances are the coffee is… oh yeah, it's gone. That Nolan, he's a six-cup-a-day kinda kid. Me on the other hand? I'll take a Red Bull over coffee any day. No coffee for me. God, am I still talking? I'm just going to, uh, stop. I'm gonna stop all the talking."

The woman watches anxiously as Spencer open the drawer that holds the knives and pulls one out. He smiles at her softly and then takes the knife and shoves it into the popcorn bag. Annalise swallows hard and curses the fact that she's inadvertently become the distraction.

"Those popcorn bags are always such a pain to open," Annalise smiles, "I always knife it too."

Spencer nods and grabs a kernel and pops it into his mouth.

"Okay, so I've been talking a lot and it's because I realized something," the girl says, deciding to use her babbling to her advantage, "and it's sort of big and so I'm freaking out here and… well… okay, it's a good thing you aren't talking because, well, what I want to say is big."

Again, Spencer nods his head.

"I love you. I'm in love with you and I'm a little freaked out because the last guy I loved well he left me and I'm scared you're gonna leave me and… I… well I love you. I love you Spencer Seeley."

The girl rushes toward her boyfriend, ready to finish the distraction with a kiss and as soon as she's close enough to him she gets on her tip toes and feels the knife go right into her gut. She looks down and sees the blood dribbling out of her and then looks back up at Spencer who is smiling.

"I love you too," he says before yanking the knife out.

\-------

"Allison, no! You're not coming in," Scott argues, standing outside of Spencer's desolate house. "We can't risk you getting hurt. No one knows what's in there."

"I don't care, Scott!" she yells back, her voice high and angry. "You know how guilty I feel about this, I need to go in. Please."

Scott's eyes meet hers, his full of sadness and confusion, hers filled with determination.

"I just can't let you…" Scott tells her after a moment.

Frustrated, Allison stomps away, over to where Lydia and Nolan, the others who weren't allowed inside, were standing.

"It's probably for the best, Allison," Lydia asserts. "I don't get why Scott has the final say in what you do and don't do, but either way, he's right. No one else needs to get hurt."

"I just want to do more than stand around! That's my cousin. The more people looking for her, the better chance we'll find her," she whines, folding her arms across her chest as a shiver rolls through her body.

"We don't even know if she's in there for sure," Nolan reminds her. "All we can do is hope no one shows up here to interrupt the search."

Allison stays silent as she realizes the truth; if she couldn't go in, she could definitely make sure no one else would either if it meant harm to Camilla.

Closer to the house stands the group of those going inside: Scott, Isaac, Derek, Erica, Jackson, and Stiles.

"No one really knows the layout of the house," Stiles tells the group. "So I say we break up as small as we can, but make sure we let others know where we're going."

Derek frowns, "What the hell is this kid doing giving the orders? Have you gotten softer, Scott?"

"Shouldn't you be at home with your baby, man?" Stiles asks, almost immediately regretting his words.

Derek punches the boy in the gut; not using all of his strength, but enough to knock a little wind out of Stiles.

"She's with Scott's mom," Erica says, shaking her head as Stiles crumples to the ground. "Just because we're parents now doesn't mean we don't care about you guys anymore. Especially if this guy is targeting supernaturals. That's not good for anyone."

Everyone nods, except Stiles, who was still on the ground.

"Stiles, man, get up," Jackson rolls his eyes, holding out a hand for him to grab.

"Unlike all of you, I don't have super strength abs, so, excuse me for trying not to die," Stiles utters, grabbing onto the hand and standing, his other arm still holding his midsection.

"Though he's not the pack leader, I still agree with what Stiles said," Derek speaks to the group. "No one knows what's in there. All we know is this guy wants us all dead, so watch everything; every step, every breath, every blink."

Derek looks at Scott for confirmation. The boy nods, adding, "But most importantly, we need to find Camilla. Look everywhere."

The group collectively nods.

"So, are we ready?" Isaac asks, his fists clenched. With more nods, the group begins walking into the house.

Before Derek and Erica enter, the blonde looks at her boyfriend, placing her hand on his face.

"Be extra careful, okay? Our baby needs both her parents to come out alive. We need to do that for her."

Derek nods, planting a big kiss on Erica's lips. The two quickly follow the rest of the group into the dark house.

Nolan, Allison and Lydia watch from a distance. As the rest of them disappear into the house, the dark begins to shadow everything.

A few minutes pass by before Lydia feels something building in her chest; something she was all too familiar with. Something that meant death.

Lydia opens her mouth, and screams.

Scott hears the scream, and almost immediately after hears footsteps pounding into the house. He turns his body quickly, his claws ready.

Instead of Spencer's, Allison's is the face that appears from the darkness.

"What the hell are you doing? What happened out there?" Scott demands, grabbing Allison's arm.

"I-I don't know. I just heard her scream and ran in here. I thought it was one of you…" she stammers, her body shaking.

Scott looks around the small living room the two were standing in. The rest of the group was already spread out amongst the big house.

"We're all fine," Scott says to her.

"Then who is it? Who died?"

Elsewhere in the house, Jackson kicks in a locked door. Wood and dust fly everywhere. The light from his phone reveals a big empty room, with a dirty, stained mattress in the middle of the floor.

The boy walks further into the room, the floorboards creaking as he does. He gets closer to the mattress and notices empty cans of beans and various foods surrounding it. An unlit lantern lies on its side.

Moving away from the mattress, Jackson begins exploring the rest of the room, looking for doors.

As he nears one of the walls, he notices a single polaroid photograph taped to it. Tearing it off the wall, he directs his light onto it.

"Is that… Roxy?" he says to himself as he recognizes the dead girl. As he observes the picture even more, he realizes she is postmortem in the photo too.

He shines his light back up to the wall, and spots more pictures. Rows of dead bodies line the wall, Jackson's mouth agape as he realizes the toll Spencer has been taking on Beacon Hills.

He walks carefully along the wall, eyeing each picture carefully. Another sticks out to him.

"Ms. Morrell," he mutters, seeing the dead woman's face in a close up.

"What's all that?" Isaac inquires from the door, his light shining near the wall.

Jackson turns and holds up the photo of Roxy, "I think these are all the people he's killed."

Isaac takes more steps into the room and gulps before he asks, "Is Camilla up there?"

Jackson does another look at all the pictures and shakes his head. Isaac releases a little bit of the tension he was holding.

"That's good news, right?"

On the first floor of the house, Stiles is walking through a dingy, moldy kitchen, which looks like it hadn't been touched in years.

He is about to leave the disgusting room when his footsteps on a rug that makes a loud creak. Curious, he pulls the dirty rug away.

His eyes widen and he yells, "Scott!"

Derek files into the room first, followed by Isaac, and then finally Scott.

"I think it's a trap door, or whatever," Stiles tells the group, revealing a brown square of wood that looked different from the rest of the floor.

"Do you think it leads to a basement?" Derek asks.

Jackson soon enters the room, "We've basically touched every other room in this house. If Camilla is here, she's in the basement."

Erica too finds her way to the group and spots the door in the floor.

"I say we all go together," the blonde offers, her eyes serious.

Scott looks around and nods his head.

"Open it up, then."

\-------

Spencer walks out of the Hayes house into the rainy night, blood staining his shirt, he knows now that it's time for it all to end.

\-------


	42. About A Girl (5x06)

"Stiles, go!" Isaac yells, his arms holding on to Camilla's lifeless body, her blood everywhere.

"I'm trying, man, I'm trying!" he responds, his voice high and scared as his shaky hands fumble with the gears on his Jeep.

"This can't be happening; this can't be fucking happening!" Nolan cries out, his hands on either side of his temples. His eyes dart back and forth from his best friend's body to the dark road ahead of him. Sitting in the front passenger seat, he has no control over the Jeep nor Camilla's life.

"Well, it's happening!" Isaac shoots back, his eyes full of fear. "And if Stiles doesn't go any faster—"

"Just calm down, okay?" Scott roars, his hands holding onto Camilla's bare legs to keep her body still, stable, and flat. They had found her in only a bra and panties, both drenched in her blood.

"How? How can any of us be calm? Her pulse is dropping every second we waste in this damn car!" Isaac replies.

"I'm going as fast as I can and you yelling is not helping anything!" Stiles tells Isaac, his eyes glancing in the rearview mirror to look at him as he spoke.

"But he's right," Nolan interjects, "she's DYING. Scott, can't you try taking away some of her pain?"

Looking around the Jeep, Scott answers, "I tried. It's not working. Her injuries are just…"

"They're too much," Nolan finishes for him. "They're too much and she's not going to make it."

"Don't fucking say that Nolan!" Isaac warns.

"I'm just being realistic! We've got at least ten minutes until we get to the hospital and even then—"

"Just shut up! Shut up, okay?" Isaac interrupts. "Stiles, c'mon, man!"

Swerving a little, Stiles jerks his head back to look at Isaac, "Isaac, chillout or I might just kill all of us!"

"What the hell?" Nolan screams at Stiles. "Why the hell would you even say that?"

"I can't even think with everyone yelling, let alone focus on driving this damn Jeep," he answers, his voice raised.

"Well you better figure it out without killing anyone!" Nolan shouts at him, his fists gripping the door handle.

"Her pulse, I don't hear her fucking pulse!" Isaac announces. "Stiles, step on it!"

"I'm going thirty over, dude—"

"She's dead? Are you saying she's dead?" Nolan yells.

"I can't fucking tell with all this yelling!" Isaac tells them.

Stiles rolls his eyes, "You're screaming too, Isaac!"

"Guys—" Scott tries to get their attention.

"Maybe because you clearly don't know what an emergency is!" Isaac tells Stiles.

"Isaac, is her heart beating? Is she dead?" Nolan turns around in his seat to look at the bloody girl in the back.

"I don't hear it, I don't hear it!" Isaac shouts out.

"Dammit, _dammit._ What the hell do we do?" Nolan wonders aloud, his hands in his hair.

Isaac's eyes widen and his head whips over to look at Scott.

"You have to give her the bite."

Scott's forehead wrinkles and he shakes his head, "Isaac, I—"

"No! Are you kidding me? Camilla is an Argent, a hunter, there's no way you can turn her. You just—"

"Do you want her to die?" Isaac screams. "Scott, if her heart is still beating, it won't be for long. You have to give her the bite!"

"We're not too far from the hospital, maybe—" Stiles starts.

"Maybe what?" Isaac interrupts. "Maybe they'll 'try everything they can' and she'll die. Do you see all this blood? She's not going to make it another minute. Scott, please."

"No, Scott, you can't. Camilla wouldn't—" Nolan pleads.

"How do you know what she wants? She's going to be dead, she has no choice! I know her, if she could either die or be bitten she would want the bite!"

Isaac looks back over at Scott whose head is churning.

"Scott," Nolan whines, begging.

"Scott," Isaac says coolly, "Scott, do it."

The boy's eyes travel around the car, from Camilla to everyone else, but he doesn't say a word. The only words traveling through his mind are " _What do I do?"_

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

October 22, 2013

_Allison and Camilla sit in Allison's bedroom late one night studying for their AP Chemistry test and the subject quickly goes from elements to boys and inevitably to their shared business of hunting. Camilla frowns and taps her pencil against her notebook as she says, "It's just scary I think."_

_"_ _Well, werewolves aren't exactly golden retrievers, this is true," Allison agrees, "but think about the werewolves we know. So long as it's not the full moon Scott and Isaac and Jackson and Erica are pretty great people… even Derek is okay, if you get past the perpetual scowl."_

_"_ _But they aren't the only werewolves in the world, ya know?" Camilla argues, "There's got to be werewolves out there who are bad. Didn't you say that Alpha Pack that just blew out of town was sort of the crème de la crème of bad?"_

_"_ _Yes, but…"_

_"_ _And we're the hunters. It's our job to hunt the big bad wolves."_

_"_ _Well yes, but…"_

_"_ _And think about it, for the most part the people in our family have died because of them. Aunt Kate, Grandma Marie, dad's cousin Leo… your mom."_

_Allison tenses at the thought of her mother's suicide after being bitten, "What's your point here?"_

_"_ _My point is that we're born to die," the girl says as she pushes her hair behind her ear, "it sucks, it majorly sucks, but I figure if I'm going to die of unnatural causes that it'll be because of werewolves. Or, what did you say Spongebob Squarejaw was? A Kanima. Maybe I'll die due to Kanima… or Malum Radix, he's still out and about carving symbols into people – maybe I'll be one of the people."_

_"_ _That's not very hopeful."_

_"_ _Maybe there is no hope," Camilla says flatly as her eyes drop down the the notebook page half filled with doodles and half filled with notes._

_Allison shakes her head, "There's always hope."_

_"_ _I'm just saying, maybe these werewolves will be the death of me."_

_\-------_

June 15, 2014

_Camilla rolls her eyes as Scott McCall sits on Isaac's couch. The pack was meeting soon and Isaac wasn't in the room._

_"_ _You're early," she mutters to him, her eyes taking in his tattered AC/DC shirt and destroyed jeans._

_"_ _Early bird catches the worm," he shrugs, a small smile softening his face. It hadn't been long after Allison sacrificed herself, and tensions were high._

_"_ _Well, you're definitely not a bird. So what does the early werewolf catch?" she challenges, eyebrows raised._

_"_ _The best seat on Isaac's couch?" he answers jokingly, trying to lighten the mood._

_Camilla snickers and shakes her head. Scott notices a faint bruise on her neck, though it might just be a hickey from Isaac so he doesn't say anything. The girl doesn't say anything else, but keeps her eyes locked on the werewolf, her face wrinkled with thought._

_Uncomfortable, Scott shifts his weight and the leather beneath him groans, almost making a squeaking sound. Camilla still stares._

_"_ _Um… Is there something on my face?" he asks her as one of his hands rubs at his chin. Perhaps a stray crumb from the toast he had eaten was trapped in his minuscule stubble._

_"_ _Just a crooked jaw," she answers, her face serious. "But if you're wondering why I'm staring, I'm just trying to figure out what Allison must have loved about you to do what she did."_

_Scott clears his throat and says, "I don't think she did it just for me… She's not a hopeless romantic, really."_

_"_ _Wasn't.. a hopeless romantic," the brunette corrects him, a bit of sadness entering her eyes._

_Scott bites the inside of his cheek and wrings his hands together as he nods. Allison wasn't anything anymore._

_Camilla leans back in her chair, her eyes trailing to the ceiling as she sighs audibly._

_"_ _I just… I don't know. Werewolves. I was brought here because of werewolves. My family is supposed to hunt werewolves. Allison loved a werewolf. Hell, I love a werewolf," she talks aloud, her forehead crinkled._

_Scott doesn't say anything, unsure of where she was taking the topic._

_Camilla chuckles and brings her eyes back down to look at the boy in front of her again._

_"_ _What was it like? Getting bitten? And, like, figuring out all the new things that came with the bite?" she questions him suddenly._

_Scott blinks rapidly, surprised by the question and unsure of what to say._

_"_ _Well, I mean, it hurt like hell. And then it all just sort of happened. I noticed more, saw more, heard more, smelled more…" he trails off._

_"_ _And Allison?"_

_Scott looks down at his hands, picking at a blister he had from working with Deaton._

_"_ _What do you mean?" he asks her after a moment, looking back at her._

_"_ _Did you have a crush before it happened? Did your… new state, I guess, have anything to do with her?"_

_Images of Allison flash through the boy's mind, her smiling, her pushing fallen strands of hair behind her ear, her laughing, her tugging at that blue shirt that kept coming up and showing her midsection…_

_"_ _I had noticed her before… It was right when she moved to town. And then once everything happened, she was almost like a rock for me. My anchor. But then again she wasn't. A lot of the time she took my focus off of what was happening to me and it was like I was just the shy, asthmatic boy that I was before I met her," he reveals to Camilla, his lips tugging back and forth from a smile to a saddened frown._

_"_ _So it wasn't all that bad… turning into a werewolf?"_

_Pondering for a moment, Scott replies, "Well, it was never ideal, but I think it did help me get the girl, in the end. And then, I guess, I lost her…"_

_Camilla's shoulders fall a bit, hearing the sadness in his voice._

_"_ _Without you she wouldn't have been the girl she was though. I sure as hell wouldn't have had a relationship with her like I did. We both would be ignorant little punks following in our parents' footsteps and thinking werewolves were the worst thing in the world… But it turns out there are much worse things. So I think you showed her a part of the world she never would have seen before. And you showed her love."_

_Scott's eyes rest on Camilla's, her kind words sinking._

_"_ _So you're saying werewolves aren't all that bad, huh?" he jokes, smiling once again._

_"_ _I guess not. I mean I would prefer it if my boyfriend was human, but I guess I'll just have to deal. It's not the end of the world if a person's a werewolf."_

_\-------_

September 3, 2014

 _"_ _So oddly enough I think that the werewolves in_ The Company of Wolves _are the best cinematic werewolves. Obviously there's no movie out there that rings as true as real life, I mean if we're going_ Twilight _-style then we should be looking at CGI wolves every full moon," Camilla says with a laugh as she and Nolan walk down Main Street with frozen yogurts in their hands._

 _"_ _Oh god_ Twilight _is the absolute worst depiction of werewolves in the world," Nolan responds, "like for starters our werewolves – so much hotter."_

_"_ _So much hotter," Camilla agrees, "they look photoshopped they're in such tip-top shape."_

_"_ _My favorite is_ An American Werewolf in Paris _. I remember watching that movie when I was a kid and being totally freaked out, I blame Annalise for that – she was seven years older so we were watching the PG-13 when I definitely shouldn't have been."_

_Camilla takes a bite of her chocolate froyo, getting a few M &Ms on her spoon too, "If I had to be any supernatural creature it would be a werewolf."_

_"_ _Really?"_

_"_ _Completely. I'd never admit it to my father or to Allison, definitely not Graham – that loser would have me whacked before the words even left my mouth – but if I had to be anything it would be a werewolf. What about you?"_

_Nolan raises an eyebrow, "Technically, I'm already a supernatural. Half demon, remember?"_

_"_ _Well that's a lame supernatural," Camilla counters, "you've got no powers, you've got nothing all that special about you."_

_"_ _Ouch."_

_"_ _Am I wrong?"_

_"_ _Uh, very wrong, I might not have any powers that we know of, but there are two very powerful, very angry groups of people trying to get me on their side. I've got something about me."_

_Camilla rolls her eyes and shrugs, "Werewolves are better."_

_"_ _So you want to be a werewolf?" Nolan asks as he eats a scoop birthday cake frozen yogurt._

_"_ _It wouldn't be the worst thing, but I'm not jonesing to be one."_

_"_ _It would definitely be better than being a half demon."_

_"_ _Definitely."_

_\-------_

September 25, 2014

_Camilla slumps back onto the bed, out of breath but loving it._

_"_ _Babe, you need to chill on the biting thing. I'm not trying to be bitten by a werewolf. Even if it won't turn me, it sure as hell won't turn me on," she tells Isaac, panting as she does._

_The boy laughs, pulling her bare skin back against his underneath the cool white sheet._

_"_ _Please, you love it when I do that," he argues with a lightheartedness. Camilla allows herself to be wrapped in his arms and she closes her eyes._

_Laughing, she agrees, "Okay, yeah. But one of these days who knows if you'll get carried away and go full on wolf?"_

_Isaac opens his mouth to nibble on Camilla's shoulder, his teeth barely grazing her body._

_"_ _I'm much too distracted to transform and then decide to bite you," he laughs. "Plus, I think you would jump the hell out of bed and out of the room if I did, for whatever reason, turn."_

_She pushes him away playfully and flips onto her side to face him. One of her hands comes up to cradle his face, the other arm is holding her up on its elbow._

_"_ _Well, what if we aren't in a place where there's an easy escape?" she inquires, her eyebrows raised._

_"_ _And where would that kind of place be?"_

_Shrugging, Camilla lists off a few places, "The shower, a car, anywhere that other people are staying too because I don't want to run out of a room fully nude with blood dripping from a wound!"_

_Isaac laughs harder, shaking his head, "You're ridiculous."_

_"_ _I'm just trying to save myself, kiddo," she says matter-of-factly._

_Without warning, Isaac rolls over on top of the brunette, pinning her down as she squirms and squeals._

_"_ _Too late for that, 'kiddo,'" he tells her, his head moving in to bite Camilla's neck playfully. "You're in love with a werewolf and there's no turning back!"_

_Camilla squeals louder, writhing as Isaac nips at her neck, her weak spot._

_"_ _Say it!" he yells at her jokingly. "Say you're in love with a werewolf and there's no turning back!"_

_"_ _No!" she shouts as he moves back in to nibble some more. Her squeals turn into uncontrollable laughter._

_"_ _Say it!" he demands once again. "I'll quit when you do, and I know you can't last long."_

_He is right, and soon enough, Camilla yells out, "I'm in love with a werewolf and there's no turning back! Now stop!"_

_\-------_

"HELP!" Isaac yells as he carries Camilla into the hospital with Scott, Stiles, and Nolan trialing behind him, the group of boys are quickly surrounded by nurses and doctors and Isaac lays Camilla down on a gurney an older nurse pushes in front of him.

"What the hell happened to her?" asks Dr. Avery as she lifts one of Camilla's eyelids, shining her light into the girl's eyes, "Jesus she's lost a lot of blood… Malia, go get as much blood from the blood bank as you can. Do any of you know her blood type?"

"O Positive," Nolan informs them, "same as mine."

"Nolan," Malia says breathlessly, looking down to see a bite mark on her arm. Without thinking the nurse covers it firmly with gauze, she looks up again and Nolan and asks, "Is she…?"

"Go. Go get as much O Pos as you can," Dr. Avery insists, not allowing the nurse and the boy to have a complete exchange.

"She's got a broken orbital socket and at least three broken ribs … multiple stab wounds… who knows what kind of internal damage has been done. I can't tell right now but I think there's a good chance her jaw is broken," says one doctor.

"Christ her right hand is broken and it looks like the left ankle is too," says another.

"Pressure is 90 over 60," says a another, "Someone get me an airway eval, stat!"

"What the hell happened to her?" Dr. Avery asks the group again.

"Is she going to live?" Nolan chokes out as tears sting his eyes.

"Don't," Isaac warns, sounding broken himself.

As the team of doctors wheel off Camilla, Dr. Avery stops, turns to the group, and says flatly, "We have lot of work to do. You all need to wait out here and you should tell Nurse Malia when she gets back who to call. I'm going to be honest, this doesn't look good… she is in… she's in bad shape. She's going to need her people."

"We're her people," Nolan says as a tear falls down his face and Stiles puts his arm around him.

Isaac turns around and walks toward the wall shoving his fist through it with supernatural force, Scott hurries over to him and leads the boy outside just as Jackson, Lydia, Derek, Allison, and Erica come running in.

"What happened to her?" Allison asks, "Where is she? Is she okay?"

"How bad is it?" Lydia demands.

"That's a lot of blood on you, Isaac," Derek notes as the boy breezes past him.

"Is she going to be okay?" Allison asks again, "Does anyone know if she's gonna be okay?"

\-------

Ron Argent is a full-blown mess. Not only is his dark green "Give Me Some Chocolate And No One Gets Hurt" shirt on backwards, but he isn't even wearing socks with his tennis shoes. The only thing on his mind right now as he pushes through the glass doors of Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital is his daughter, who, from the phone call he received at 10:14 pm, only twelve minutes earlier, was thought to be in very critical condition.

He brushes past a few people as his feet lead him to the front desk where he doesn't wait in line.

"Camilla Argent, where is she? I'm her father, I need to see her now," he demands in one breath his eyes serious, his face calm, but his heart beating faster than he ever thought possible.

The nurse at the desk looks up at him, her lips pursed as she robotically answers, "I'll need to see some ID first, please, before I can give you any information regarding the patient."

Ron's hand shoots down to his pocket, feeling around for the wallet that wasn't there. He tries all of his other pockets. Empty.

"I-I must have forgot my wallet at home. Please, I just got a phone call and rushed here, I need to see her."

Clacking her tongue, the woman starts her response, another robotic answer she was used to saying, "Sir, I'm sorry but—"

"Ron, come with me," a voice interrupts. The man's eyes move to the source and he spots a petite brunette with blood-covered scrubs standing towards the right side of one of the desks. Malia turns to the nurse at the desk, "This man is who he says he is. I was the one who called. Please, Ron, follow me."

Nodding with fervor Ron follows close behind Malia until he ends up in a different part of the hospital, hardly anyone was around. Malia stops suddenly and turns around to face Ron, her face grave and pale.

"Mr. Argent, before I—"

"Is she dead? Please tell me she isn't dead," he begs, his hands wringing together.

"No, Camilla isn't dead. In fact, she's pretty stable," she informs him.

Relief and confusion rush over the man as his lips twitch, trying to find the next words to say.

"I know on the phone—" she begins, only to be cut-off by Ron once again.

"On the phone you told me that Camilla was in critical condition. That she had many severe injuries and was going to more than likely be rushed into surgery. On the phone you told me I needed to get here fast before something happened. Before something bad happened to my little girl, but now you're telling me she's fine? What does that mean? She's out of surgery but she's in a coma? Or she's braindead but isn't bleeding out anymore? What are you trying to say?"

Malia licks her lips and blinks for a long second before she responds.

"Camilla is asleep, not in a coma, not brain dead. Not anything really, other than recovering from what I was told was a kidnap and torture situation. She's doing very, very well."

Ron shakes his head, his brows furrowed, "She's doing very well. Very, very well. But when I spoke to you, oh, twenty minutes ago, you had me rushing to get here, thinking that every second I wasn't here was a second my daughter, my only child, was alone, without her father, dying. You told me that she was in critical condition, and that her future was questionable. So how in the hell, in the span of twenty minutes, can my daughter go from dying to being okay? No surgery can take that quick, especially in the condition you claimed she was in. No miracle could have happened that could erase what you told me was going on with my daughter. Twenty fucking minutes is not enough time to take a girl from being practically dead to being practically okay, no matter how good of a doctor you have. And if that blood on you is my daughter's, there's no way that that amount indicates that she is okay. What the hell is going on here?

"Mr. Argent," says a person that wasn't Malia. Ron looks over his shoulder and spots Isaac and Scott.

"Isaac, have you seen Camilla? Is she okay? This nurse is making absolutely no sense she tells me that one minute Camilla is dying and now—"

"Look," Isaac interrupts, holding his hands in front of him with caution as he moves closer to the man. "I know this is all confusing. But we have to tell you something, and then it'll all make sense. Maybe we should all sit down—"

"I'm not going anywhere until someone explains! I don't care what ludicrous bullshit I have to hear, just tell me what is happening!"

"Ron, Camilla is… Camilla was—" Isaac begins, fumbling with his words, his hands still held in the air.

"Isaac, let me," Scott stops him. Gulping, Scott looks directly into Ron's eyes.

"Mr. Argent, sir, what Malia told you over the phone was true. Camilla was dying, dead almost. She lost a lot of blood had a lot of injuries. We found her like that, in a man's basement, a man targeting supernaturals. He had left her for dead. We drove her here, and she wasn't going to make it. Her pulse was undetectable, her blood was everywhere, as you can see…" he trails off, taking a deep breath before continuing. Ron's eyes are wide and his heart is still beating extremely fast.

"So we made a decision. There was no way we could have made it to the hospital on time before something even worse happened. We… we didn't know what to do, there was so much blood, so much confusion, everyone was yelling…"

"Scott, just tell him," Isaac begs in a distressed and pained voice.

A tear drips from Scott's eye as he finishes, "Mr. Argent, we… I gave Camilla the bite. It was the only thing I could think of to try and save her and—"

Scott doesn't get to finish his sentence before Ron's fist connects with his jaw and stops the words before they can even roll off his tongue.

\-------

October 3, 2013

_"_ _This is bullshit!" Camilla yells, stomping up the stairs of her and her father's house._

_"_ _Camilla, if you would just give me a second to explain—" Ron starts_

_"_ _What else is there to explain?" she shouts, turning around on the staircase, her hand gripping the railing with anger. "I get it! Monsters are real. Werewolves and God knows what else. And Allison got herself into a mess with a group of them—"_

_"_ _A pack," Ron corrects quietly._

_"_ _Whatever! A goddamn pack! And now we have to drop everything we're doing to go save her and Chris? Oh! And Grandpa's dead too, what a party! Why are we the ones that have to fix this?"_

_Ron sighs, "Because it's our duty as a family, Camilla. We're hunters, it's what we do."_

_"_ _No, it's what you do. Don't I get a choice? I'm only half Argent. I don't want to leave, I won't!"_

_"_ _Honey, it's not for forever—"_

_Camilla holds up her hand to stop him. She takes a deep breath as she lowers herself onto the steps to sit._

_More calmly, she speaks, "Have you even thought about this, though? What you guys do as hunters… What dictates that you guys are right and that werewolves are wrong? They're humans too, Dad. At least they used to be, right?"_

_Ron moves his head from side to side as he considers his answer._

_"_ _Yes and no. Some werewolves are born that way. Others are bitten. So yes, some were once human but—"_

_Camilla stops him again, "But what? And they're not constantly in wolf-mode either, right?"_

_Ron nods his head slowly, with no enthusiasm._

_"_ _So what are they when they aren't werewolves? They weren't anything else before, so if you ask me, I'd still say they're human."_

_Ron sighs again, "Honey, it's more complicated than that. They have a mutation in their cells—"_

_"_ _So the mutation makes them bad? What about Mom? She had cancer, that's a mutation of cells, right?"_

_"_ _Camilla, that's different."_

_"_ _Is it though? You just said the mutation is what makes them different, it's why they have to be hunted. It's not their fault they have different cells, just like it wasn't Mom's fault either."_

_With that, Camilla stands up once again and heads up to her room while her father stands at the bottom of the stairs, his mouth agape. When she reaches the top, she turns back once more._

_"_ _I'm just saying. I'll go, and I'll play hunter. I know it's different. I just think we should have more of an open mind with it. If Allison somehow fell in love with one, they can't be that bad, right?"_

_\-------_

Sitting in the waiting room in-between Allison and Nolan, icing his hand, Ron waits for Malia to return with an update on Camilla. His legs bounce up and down, both as a reaction of anger and as a tick for his nervousness.

Scott and Isaac were elsewhere, as Ron didn't want to see either of their faces for a long time. Not after what they did to his daughter.

Stiles and Lydia come walking toward the group with coffee in their hands for Ron, Nolan, and Allison. The dark haired girl's eyes are puffy from crying and Nolan looks like he's completely left his body.

Soon, Ron sees Malia walk through the doorway that leads to all the rooms. This time, she is wearing a fresh pair of scrubs without any of Camilla's O+ splattered across them.

He stands up, ready for what she has to tell him. He sees a small smile on her face and his body relaxes— barely.

"Mr. Argent, Camilla is ready to see you. She's awake and she's doing well," she says in a quiet tone, happy to deliver good news.

"Thank you, um, I never did get your name…"

"Malia," she answers.

"Thank you, Malia. And I'm sorry for punching someone in the hospital, I just—"

"No need to explain, sir. You both have a long road ahead. Now, go see your daughter. She needs you. Room 221."

Nodding, Ron passes Malia, briefly noticing Erica and Derek coming back from calling Melissa to check on the baby, and heads toward the direction she had just come from. Counting down the numbers, he finally stands outside the room Camilla is in. Taking a deep breath, he steps underneath the doorway, bracing himself for what was next.

Inside, Camilla is sitting up, her head turned to her left so Ron couldn't see her face.

"I heard your heart beating before you even got here," Camilla says softly, her voice a thin rasp.

With that, Ron bursts into tears, taking no time at all to get to his daughter's side. She finally turns to look at him, and she is crying too. Her face was still bruised and cut, though Ron figured it wasn't as severe as it had been.

"Camilla, baby…" he chokes out, grabbing her hands and squeezing tight.

"Daddy," she cries, pulling him towards her and sobbing into his shirt. He holds her as his tears fall, too. Neither of them wanting to let go.

"Daddy, I'm so sorry. I'm so so sorry."

"Shhh. It's okay. It's okay. Just tell me what happened to you, sweetheart. What the hell happened?"

\-------

Ron comes out of Camilla's room in the ICU with a stony face. He's relieved and he's scared and doesn't know how to hide the fear from the group of teenagers standing before him when he reaches the waiting room, he eyes Scott and Isaac and pushes away his rage when he speaks.

"Allison, she's asking for you," the older Argent tells his niece.

Allison nods and heads toward the room, shooting a sympathetic glance in Isaac's direction as before she heads down the hall toward her cousin's room.

"When can we see her?" Isaac asks, his voice firm.

"Not today," Ron replies flatly, not able to look at the boy.

"N-not today? Does she not want to see us?" Nolan asks from where he stands beside Isaac.

Ron shakes his head, "It has been a long few days for her to say the least. She's been through a lot and now she's a… she's a… well, she's different now and she's not up to seeing any of you. Not today."

"Not up to seeing us?" Isaac questions.

"You should all go home. Camilla is going to be fine, Scott made sure of that, so… you should all just go home," Ron states, "it's over. Go home."

Before Nolan or Isaac can protest any more Ron is heading back to Camilla's room. Scott walks forward and stands before the group and nods saying, "You heard him. We should head out. Camilla's good, she's got the bite and she's… she's one of us now.  _Really_  one of us."

"Your first true beta is an Argent," Derek scoffs, "amazing choice there, Scott."

"You shouldn't have done it," Erica says, "not to her."

"We had to," Stiles tells her.

"It was either turn her or watch her die," Isaac says through clenched teeth.

Nolan runs a hand through his hair, "We don't need any more death."

"And there's not. Camilla's alive and she's just… she's gotta cope right now, so we should go," Jackson says, "come on guys. We should go."

\-------

The Porsche sits in Nolan's driveway for another minute as Jackson stares intently at his boyfriend. Nolan is tense – his shoulders, his face, even his scent is tense and Jackson knows that there is nothing that can be said or done to alleviate that tension.

"You do know Camilla is fine, right?" Jackson asks, "Scott gave her the bite. She's a werewolf now… a werewolf hunting werewolf, which is sort of any oxymoron, but she's still a werewolf now so dealing with pain and kidnapping and everything will be a lot easier for her."

"This isn't funny," Nolan mumbles.

"I-I know it's not, but Nolan c'mon… there's nothing more that can be done now. The book is closed, the movie is over, the credits are rolling."

"I'm aware that it's over, Jackson, but that doesn't change the fact that my best friend is now a werewolf or that now we have to find a way to send my sister's homicidal boyfriend to jail without putting anyone else's life at stake. We got Camilla back, but the problems are still here… the problems are bigger now too because now Camilla is a slave to the moon."

"Says the boy dating a moon slave," Jackson mocks.

Sighing Nolan says, "I wonder what happened after Spencer left tonight. I sent Annalise a text and told her that we were all clear and she sent back a thumbs up emoji… hopefully Spencer didn't catch on to the whole scheme."

"Look I think that what you really need now is just a good night's sleep. We don't have finals until the end of the week so maybe you should stay home tomorrow and just relax. All these problems are still going to be here. There ain't no rest for the wicked."

"Thank you, Cage the Elephant."

"Actually it's Cage the Werewolf."

"That's much more fitting."

"And just as catchy."

Nolan shakes his head, "Lydia screamed. Lydia screamed and that meant that someone was supposed to die, but Camilla didn't and I just… I don't know. It's scary. It is a scary world that we live in and the worst part is that the second things seems safe they just get scarier."

Jackson leans forward and kisses Nolan softly, "I'll keep you safe."

Nolan puts his hand on Jackson's cheek and smiles weakly, "I better go inside and talk to my sister."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Getting out of the car then Nolan walks up his front porch steps and into his dark house. The boy looks to his left and sees that the TV above the fireplace is paused on a scene in  _Blue Velvet_  where Dennis Hopper is assaulting Isabella Rossellini, the boy walks into the room and grabs the remote and turns it off, noticing his cat asleep in the armchair. Nolan smiles at the white ball of fur and walks out of the living room, shrugging out of his navy jacket as he goes. The boy tosses it onto the stairs and calls out, "Annalise? Are you up?"

When the boy gets no reply he frowns. He had wanted to have a conversation with his sister about the day's events, to see how she was handling knowing that her boyfriend was the man who had been singlehandedly killing off the townspeople, and to fill her in on the rescue of Camilla.

Nolan cuts through the dining room now and goes into the kitchen ready to get a glass of water and go to bed after the exhausting day. When he faintly hears the sound of Bobby Vinton singing the song "Blue Velvet," instantly knowing something was off Nolan takes the corner and enters the kitchen, stepping in something slippery and falling hard onto the tile floor. The boy winces at the pain that shoots through his side upon impact as the song ends and begins again. He puts his hand on the ground to push himself up and feels the cold, wet, sticky substance and finally notices the candles on the kitchen table illuminating things just enough that he can see that what he has slipped in is red.

Red.

Blood.

The candles on the kitchen table, Nolan notices now, are also outlining a familiar shape.

Swallowing hard, he stands looking at the shape feeling faint. He knows what it is before he turns on the lights to fully see his sister lying on the table eyes open, with a stab wound in her stomach and the knife, the very knife his mother had once slit her wrists with, sticking sickeningly out of her chest. Her arms and legs are bound to the legs of the table and on on her mouth, drawn on with blood, is a smile.

Screams fill Nolan's ears.

He wonders where they're coming from and how they can be so loud before it finally dawns on him that the screams are his and that his sister is dead. Really dead.

He screams louder.

\-------


	43. Comfortably Numb (5x07)

It's pretty easy to walk past the front desk of the police station, and Spencer does so with a calm, collected look on his face; which is freshly shaven.

His attire, a black polo shirt with crisp khakis, gives him the appearance of being a proper guy, a guy who wouldn't start a fight in a bar, a guy who wouldn't steal candy from a baby, a guy who wouldn't murder several people in one town.

He heads straight for the sheriff's office; it's pretty easy to find since he had been studying the station since he rolled into Beacon Hills. He knew it would be an important part of his overall plan.

Knocking ever so lightly on the door, which happened to be a tad ajar, Spencer waits for his welcome to enter.

"Yeah, come in," Donna Lamb's voice calls out. As Spencer slides into the small room, Donna barely lifts her head to observe the man, more than likely assuming her visitor is just one of her officers or staff.

Spencer eases the door shut behind him and waits. His hands head for his pockets right as Donna decides to look up.

Her brow crinkles, but Spencer pays no mind to it; she should be confused, a regular guy just walked into her office without warning.

"Can I help you, sir?" she asks of him, clearing her throat after, as her words sounded a bit croaky as they left her mouth.

Spencer smiles a bright smile, "Absolutely."

He makes a move to sit in one of the chairs placed in front of the woman's desk, and Donna shifts uncomfortably.

"Sheriff, I'm sure you're aware of the handful of murders that have happened here in Beacon Hills," he begins, cocking his head as he awaits her response. Donna nods and Spencer continues.

"I'm here to tell you that these murders are not the random killings of a serial killer, or even a flock of different killers, but rather, the attempt to rid this town of a poison, a toxicity, that has seemed to infiltrate it. Sheriff, what I am about to tell you is going to sound crazy, bizarre, but I can assure you, it is the absolute truth, and it is a truth that I have taken upon myself to take care of. I feel as though my actions have… gotten the ball rolling, for lack of better speech, but it is now up to you, up to your town, to do anything that will be of real significance."

With that, Spencer tells Donna everything. Supernatural beings, humans helping them, the deaths that were chalked up to cult activities but were actually the result of supernaturals.

Donna takes his words with short, curt nods, her eyes widening. Spencer finishes and looks at her expectantly.

"So I ask of you, Sheriff Lamb, what are we going to do about this?"

Donna is silent as her mind races, though her face is stoic. Nodding her head, she leans back in her seat and looks up at the ceiling.

"You've told me a lot of things, interesting things…"

Before she can go on, a knock on the door stops her. As the door opens, Ben reveals himself. He looks over at Donna who nods her head.

Going further into the room, Ben nears Spencer and places his hand on the man's shoulder. Spencer recoils from Ben's touch, but as he does, the officer pulls out handcuffs and is quick to make a move.

"Spencer Seeley, you are under arrest for the murders of Marin Morell, Roxy Daribon, Kathleen Jones, Finn Riley, Annalise Hayes, for the connections to fifteen murders ranging from Maine to Oregon, and for the kidnapping and attempted murder of Camilla Argent. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you…" Ben continues the reading of Miranda Rights, and as he does, Donna stays in her seat, hardly moving an inch. Ben calls for other officers to come in and place Spencer in custody.

Soon, Ben and Donna are left alone in her office.

"How you doing, boss?" Ben asks, placing his hands on his hips.

Donna is silent for a moment, but shifts her eyes to stare blankly at Ben.

"I know this guy is a nutjob… but I can't seem to shake off the things he's said. It's crazy, but it all makes sense. Everything. He had an explanation for almost every odd thing that has ever happened here. When Stilinski was in charge, he seemed okay with these half-assed stories, and if what this guy is saying has any merit, that too makes sense, because his kid is best friends with McCall and that group and—"

"Donna," Ben stops her, holding up a hand for effect. "You said it yourself, that guy is crazy. He took advantage of Beacon Hills'… rich history, and his head twisted it into something even crazier. Don't you think we would know if we had a bunch of werewolves running amuck? Those kids, though troublemakers, seem to be healthy, normal teens to me."

Donna sighs and shakes her head, "I know… I know. It just…"

"I get it," he tells her with a small smile. "But that guy as issues, Lamb. Use your head. It might give us better explanations, more connections, but in the end, it's all bullshit some guy concocted in his head. Go home and get some rest. And no watching any vampire or werewolf movies, okay?"

Donna nods, "Yeah, yeah."

Ben heads for the door and closes it as he leaves. Before he goes onto his next task, he pauses in the hallway. He would never say anything to Donna, but he too had a weird feeling that what Spencer said wasn't all that crazy.

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Allison Argent is tired.

Exhausted even.

Every time the dark haired girl blinks, her eyes burn from a combination of sleep deprivation and, presumably, from spending most of the night into the early morning crying with her uncle, her cousin, and her step-aunt.

Allison Argent is tired.

Sitting next to her is Lydia, the girl's long red hair is pulled up into a bun on the very top of her head. It is clear from the way the girl is leaning against the arm of the couch in Allison's neatly furnished apartment that she too is tired.

It had been a long, emotional night.

The girls watch the morning news silently as anchorman Richard Simmons talks about the latest murder in a string of murders that has been plaguing the town. This one the murder of high school guidance counselor Annalise Hayes.

"Turn it off," Lydia groans as she shuts her eyes so hard her forehead wrinkles. The girl's throat is sore from screaming like the banshee she was for what seemed like all night last night.

Following Lydia's instruction Allison changes the channel to FX where an old episode of  _How I Met Your Mother_ is playing. Allison turns the volume down low as Neil Patrick Harris appears on the screen and asks her friend coldly, "What the hell happened last night?"

"We got a front row seat to what regular, human evil looks like," Lydia replies, "and it looks so much worse than anything supernatural evil could create."

"I'm sure Malum would be happy to come back to this reality and prove you wrong," Allison quips as she runs her fingers through her shoulder length hair.  _Shower, you need to shower_  she thinks to herself.

"How could a human do that?" Lydia asks, a chill running down her spine as she recalls Isaac running out of the house with a limp Camilla in his arms, "Torture someone, kill the woman they were dating… take photographs like some sort of sick trophy of their crimes and hang them up around a room in their house. When something bad happens because of the supernatural world it almost makes some sort of sense – the demons were possessing people because they're demons. Malum was sacrificing and resurrecting people because he was quite literally The Root of Evil, but Spencer? Spencer is just a man. A human man. Just like Stiles, just like my dad, just like Coach Finstock for crying out loud… how could a human be so… so… it's just... life, death it's all just semantics to Spencer."

"It's a scary world we live in," Allison says, her eyes suddenly stinging with tears that she didn't know she had left to cry.

Lydia sits up and puts her arm around Allison, pulling the girl into a hug, "Camilla is okay. She is okay. She's an Argent and Argents are a resilient breed."

Allison laughs, "I guess we are."

The two girls sit in silence again as Alyson Hannigan and Cobie Smulders sit outside a wedding dress store, a car alarm going off right in front of them. The antics on this show were so simple and silly they had an inexplicable calming influence to them. Lydia brushes a stray hair out of her face and Allison wraps the fluffy red blanket she had covering her legs more tightly around her as they hear the apartment door open.

"We come bearing coffee," Stiles calls out.

"And cinnamon rolls," Scott adds.

The two boys come walking into the living room then. Stiles plops down beside Lydia, planting a soft kiss on her cheek when he does. He gives the girl a cup of coffee that she greedily and happily accepts, taking a long sip as soon as she can – ignoring how hot the beverage is.

"How are you?" Scott asks as he sits down in the arm chair which resides closest to Allison's side of the sofa. The boy hands the huntress a still steaming cinnamon roll and a coffee, sharing a weak smile with her.

"I am… emotionally and physically exhausted," Allison tells the boy, "how are you? Does it hurt where Ron punched you?"

"I'm fine. Werewolf healing," Scott chuckles.

"Thank you. Thank you for saving Camilla. I know that the Argent Family's gratitude was a little lost in the midst of everything last night, but I know that, just like me, Ron is… out of this world grateful that you saved Camilla's life."

Shrugging, Scott says, "She's part of the pack."

"Very, very literally now," Stiles mumbles as he takes a swig of coffee. "Speaking of the pack, any word from Nolan?"

"Not since the very stoic call I got from him saying that his sister was dead," Lydia remarks. "That poor, poor boy. His life is worse than a Greek tragedy or a soap opera. First his mom dies – twice, then his dad abandons him, and then the sister he just reunited with dies… he can't catch a break."

Stiles sighs, "I can't believe Spencer did all of this. Ms. Morell, Roxy, Annalise… it's majorly messed up. Majorly, majorly, majorly."

Allison shakes her head, "God, I'm tired."

"Me too," Lydia says quietly.

"Same here," Scott agrees as he slides down in the arm chair.

"Very, very sleepy," Stiles chimes in.

All four teenagers exchange a look then, one of incredibly understanding. The four had been through just about everything.

Life, death, afterlife.

Alphas, Kanimas, Darachs, resurrections, sacrifices, Roots of Evil, Demons.

In that moment Allison Argent, Scott McCall, Lydia Martin, and Stiles all realize that they are bonded forever. Nothing could tear them apart.

Not even death.

\-------

She doesn't have to wait for the sound of his knuckles on her front door before she realizes Isaac is here, at her house. She can just feel him there.

She takes a deep breath and pushes herself up off the couch to retrieve him.

Yanking the door open, Isaac's eyes immediately meet hers, but he doesn't say anything.

"Come in, Lahey," she murmurs, rolling her eyes.

He does as she commands and steps into Derek and Erica's house.

"Where's Francesca?" he inquires, his voice quiet and raspy.

Erica plops back down on the couch and crosses her legs.

"Derek's putting her down for her nap. He should be down in a sec."

Isaac sighs and opens his mouth to say "Erica, look—" but before he can get the words out, both of them hear Derek's heavy footsteps on the stairs, signaling the man's return.

"Isaac," he nods to him when he spots the boy.

Erica looks up at her boyfriend, "Did she put up a fight?"

"Yes, she did. She's a feisty one, just like her mom," Derek smiles before taking a seat right next to the blonde. Turning to Isaac he says, "What's up, Isaac? Have a seat."

Isaac obliges and sits down in one of the armchairs Derek and Erica had in their living room.

"I just… I don't know what to do for her."

Isaac doesn't explicitly elaborate, but the couple understands what he means.

The boy goes on, "Her dad is pissed at me, she seems to be pissed at me, Erica, you're pissed at me… Hell I'm pissed at me."

Erica bites the inside of her cheek before muttering, "You played a large role in the changing of a werewolf hunter to a werewolf… An Argent to a… 'monster' so to speak."

"What could I have done? She was dying, dead, gone… Would you rather be going to Camilla's funeral right now or having her alive and well?"

Cocking her head, Erica replies, "Is she well, though? Alive, yeah. But do any of us even know if she's okay? She's basically refused to associate with anyone but her family… It's like she's blaming us."

Isaac's hard expression softens, "Is that why you're so upset? Because Camilla's not talking to you?"

Erica shakes her head, "Well, I guess. But also because she doesn't deserve this life. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn't been changed. But I also wouldn't have died once. Camilla's life was fine, as close to perfect as I think any of us will ever see. And now her being a werewolf… Well who knows how her life will turn out."

"She would have been dead, Erica. Dead. And yeah, we've brought people back before, but that would have meant someone else had to die. Camilla is still Camilla. She's just not human. And am I fully okay with that? Hell no, but I would much rather have her heart beating than not. Even if she'll never talk to me again. Don't you want that too?"

Erica looks over at Derek who offers her a heartfelt look. She nods.

"I guess you're right. If Camilla is going to be anything, I'd rather it be alive than dead in the ground."

\-------

Ben walks down the halls of Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital in search of Malia. He needs to see his girlfriend for a variety of reasons – the biggest being to offer his condolences for the loss of her best friend.

When the man spots his short haired girlfriend enjoying a cup of steaming green tea out of the mug he had gotten her for Christmas he feels a sort of pang in his chest he hadn't expected to feel. The man steps up to the Nurse's Station where Malia sits and smiles at her weakly.

The girl looks up from her tea cup and swallows hard, "Hey."

"Hey," Ben says back.

The girl sets her cup down, stands up and walks around the counter to accept a hug from her boyfriend that neither she nor Ben had realized he'd been offering. The man squeezes the girl tightly and says, "I'm so, so sorry, Malia."

"Me too," Malia whispers.

The two pull apart and Ben gives his girlfriend a quick kiss on the lips. He smiles at her after and says, "Do you know how her brother is doing?"

"I was planning on going over there after my shift in a few hours," Malia says, "but God, poor Nolan, right?"

"He's pretty close with Camilla Argent, isn't he?"

Malia nods her head, "Yeah, why?"

"I should probably question him about all of this too then, uh, this morning Spencer Seeley came into the station… he admitted to killing Marin Morell, Roxy Daribon… plus fifteen other people going from Freeport to Portland. The guy was a total psycho, but on top of all the killing he also said he had kidnapped Camilla Argent."

"Oh…"

"He said that she was probably here by now and that if she wasn't in a coma from all the abuse he had put her through that she would be able to confirm his story."

"Oh," Malia says again.

"Oh?" Ben asks.

"Well, Camilla is here, but…"

"But she's in a coma isn't she?"

Malia rubs the back of her neck, "Uh, not exactly, no."

"She's in such bad shape she can't give a statement?" Ben asks.

"No, no… but, well, Ben, I don't think she can take visitors."

"Why not? From what you're telling me she's stable, okay enough to quickly tell me 'Yes, Spencer Seeley kidnapped and tortured me,' right?"

"Ben you just… shit… you can't just bust in and see her."

"Why not, Malia? What aren't you telling me? Please don't tell me that you're trying to spare me from having to see the poor girl all beaten and bruised. I'm a big boy, I can handle a little swelling."

"It's not that."

"Then what is it?"

"I don't know what you want me to tell you," Malia says, "but you can't see her, because, well, she's not hurt. Not at all. She's, well, she's fine actually. So even if she told you that she was tortured or whatever she doesn't exactly look the part. Her story would never hold up in court."

"What?"

"What?"

Ben furrows his brow, "Malia, honey, you aren't making any goddamn sense."

"Dr. Avery," Malia says suddenly as the dark haired doctor strolls past her, "this deputy here would like to speak to Camilla Argent."

"Camilla Argent was just discharged," Dr. Avery replies.

Ben frowns, "Discharged? From the report we got this morning it seemed more likely that Camilla Argent would be in a coma than walking out the door."

"Her injuries, while seemingly severe at her admittance, were mostly just superficial. She was discharged about a half an hour ago, deputy. If you'd like to get in touch with her I'm sure that Malia here could get you her address," Dr. Avery states before walking away from the officer and the nurse.

"Malia, what the hell is going on? Was he being serious?"

"Was who being serious?"

"Spencer," Ben snaps, "the son of a bitch came into the station this morning spouting stuff about werewolves and banshees and demons running around Beacon Hills like this town was something out of a Stephanie Meyer book."

"Stephanie Meyer, really? Why not Anne Rice?"

"Really irrelevant right now, Malia."

Malia wets her lips, "Look, Ben… Spencer, he may have been telling you more of the truth than you suspected."

"Which means that… oh my god…"

\-------

Susan is quiet as she slowly pushes the door to Camilla's bedroom open. Inside, no lights were on, and the thick curtains on the windows made it seem more like it was 2 AM rather than 2 PM.

Camilla lays on her bed, and Susan can see it rise and fall as she breathes but makes no other movements. She pads further into the room and heads next to the bed where Camilla's nightstand holds various pill bottles full of painkillers that the hospital had given her. Not that she would need them.

Susan is about to exchange an empty glass for one full of water when Camilla rolls over and stares up at her stepmother.

"I'm sorry sweetie, I didn't mean to wake you. I was just giving you some fresh water," she apologizes.

"It's okay," Camilla answers in a soft voice. "I wasn't sleeping. And I could hear your heart pounding from outside my door."

"Oh, Camilla, I'm sorry I—"

"Susan, it's okay. I'm okay," Camilla stops her, sitting up in bed and leaning back on her pillows. She has nine of them, for some reason.

Susan takes a moment to respond, asking Camilla if she wants anything to eat.

"I'm sort of craving some blood…" Camilla reveals. Susan's eyes widen and Camilla chuckles. "I'm kidding, Susan. Lighten up. I'm a werewolf, not a vampire."

"I just wish I could do something for you," Susan tells her, sadness dripping from her voice.

Camilla shrugs, her loose t-shirt slipping down one of her shoulders, revealing her tanned skin, "There's nothing you can do. I just need to get okay on my own. I can't sleep, though. In fact, I feel awesome, amazing, perfect, even. Physically, anyways. But mentally? I don't know how to feel. I don't know what to do."

Susan takes a seat on the edge of the girl's bed, resting her hand on Camilla's arm.

"Honey, I know I don't have any sort of clue what's going on in that pretty little head of yours, but I'm here to listen. Your father is here, your friends, Allison… You have so many people who will hear what you have to say; we want to hear it. You're not alone in this. No one will ever let you be alone."

Camilla looks down at her comforter, unsure of how to respond. Susan was right, but why did she feel alone?

Susan removes her hand from Camilla's arm and stands up, "Well, I'm going to go whip something up in the kitchen. If you feel like eating, come on out. Or I can bring something to you."

Susan reaches over to reclaim the empty glass she had left next to the full one on Camilla's nightstand, but she does so too quickly and knocks the full one over.

Before it is even a fraction of an inch off the table, Camilla's hand shoots out and catches it, only a small drop spilling out.

The two look at each other and share a smirk.

Camilla opens her mouth and speaks, "I guess being a werewolf won't be that bad, will it?"

\-------

Nolan stands in the doorway of his kitchen, staring at the bloodstained kitchen table. His stomach churns as he remembers the gruesome crime scene he'd come home to last night; the way his sister's blood had felt on his skin – still warm even though the coroner had ruled her time of death as at least eight hours before Nolan's return home.

He'd had to give his clothes to the police as evidence. They'd taken the knife his mother had used to kill herself with, that Spencer had stabbed Annalise with, as evidence. They'd taken Annalise's phone, which had been playing "Blue Velvet" on a loop with them as evidence.

Nolan shuts his eyes and sees the smile drawn on his sister's lifeless face with blood.

He turns away from the kitchen then, eyes still shut, and slams right into someone. He opens his eyes, afraid and ready to scream – his throat still sore from screaming last night after having found his murdered sister – and quickly realizes the person he'd run into was Jackson.

"W-what are you doing here?" Nolan asks, his voice hoarse.

"I didn't think you should be here alone," Jackson replies softly, "Nolan, are you okay?"

"Am I okay? My sister is d-dead. Murdered. Slaughtered. Killed with the same knife my mom killed herself with in the same room my mom killed herself in. That kitchen," Nolan says, pointing with his thumb, "that kitchen sucks. That kitchen does nothing but bring me pain. It's Hell's Kitchen, I should burn it down."

"Okay, stupid question, did you sleep at all?"

The two boys walk through the foyer now and into the living room where Jane Fonda is sleeping with a bone still in her mouth. Blood stains the fur on her paws.

"I couldn't sleep. Every time I shut my eyes I see Annalise's dead face."

"Nolan, I am so sorry."

"The coroner said that they would be able to release her body to the Prescott Funeral Home by tonight, so I need to start, uh, planning her funeral. Her second funeral. Second because, you know, she faked her death way back in the day."

"Do you want me to help you?" Jackson asks as the pair sit down on the couch.

"Um, could you get that table out of my kitchen?" Nolan asks, "It's ruined. The blood totally destroyed the varnish and, also, there was a dead body on it. Sort of makes the idea of eating off of it impossible. If you get that out of here you'd be helping beyond the telling of it."

"Nolan, talk to me," Jackson insists, putting his hand on Nolan's lower back causing Nolan to shoot up and start pacing.

"I can't. I can't talk to you. Not about this, this is… this is… well, this is the type of thing I could talk to Camilla about. She knows about losing her sister because Allison was a lot like a sister to her, so Camilla gets it, ya know? I wish Camilla was here. I want her to be here and I want to order a pizza – half everything, half cheese because Camilla hates toppings on her pizza just like she hates One Direction and hates people who think that Rachel belongs with anyone other than Joey. I need Camilla for this, to get through this, but Camilla is off being a werewolf right now and she just…"

"Nolan," Jackson begins.

"I should have known. When she went missing I should have known. When she didn't text me back 'Gross,' or 'Yay for Jacklan' when I told her that you and I had gotten back together I should have known," Nolan speeds on, "I go on and on about her being my person and I don't even realize that she's been kidnapped."

"That wasn't your fault."

"I always think to myself that you might be the love of my life but Camilla… Camilla is my soulmate. Well, some soulmate I am to her."

"What would she do?" Jackson asks.

"What?"

"What would Camilla do if she were here right now and you were sad?"

Nolan stops pacing then and smiles weakly, thinking of the girl, "She would turn the music on pretty loud and she would get the tequila out and we would drink and sing along and dance."

"I can do that," Jackson smiles, standing up, "I can be Camilla for you, just for now."

Pinching the bridge of his nose Nolan says, "No you can't. You can't be Camilla for me."

"She'll come around, Nolan. She will. You guys are both going through big things right now, but when everything settles down you will be right back where you were."

"Promise?"

Jackson pulls Nolan into a hug, "I promise."

"My sister is dead."

"Yeah. She is."

"That sucks," Nolan says, his voice cracking before he dissolves into tears.

\-------

For the second time today, Isaac finds himself knocking on the door of a residence he isn't sure he's welcomed at. Derek and Erica had been somewhat easy. He knew Derek was on his side and even if Erica still thought he was a piece of garbage at least he'd have someone to talk to. Someone to make him feel like he actually wasn't a piece of garbage.

But then Erica realized the truth. He couldn't have saved her any other way. She was either dead or a werewolf. The latter seemed like a better option. It was a better option. So Derek and Erica went over smooth enough, that means good luck right?

Probably not, because inside this place were three people whom Isaac has had his ups and downs with. Except Susan. Susan isn't capable of any emotion even remotely related to hate or disappointment or anger. One down. Sort of.

Ron… Oh Ron. He literally came into town already hating Isaac because of who he is. What he is. And then he broke Camilla's heart and Ron had no reason to care for him anymore. And now he was responsible for changing Camilla from the fiery, passionate human she was into a werewolf who… Who what? Isaac doesn't even know. Camilla had done no more than seem to forget he existed, to forget that the night she disappeared she was supposed to meet him, to talk about their future, their relationship. What was left of that relationship?

So as Isaac feels himself knock on that door, his heart sinks and his stomach twists as he realizes he might never have any relationship with the love of his life ever again.

Ron's eyes are hard once he spots Isaac in the hallway. He grunts, or was it a snort? Isaac can't tell.

"You've got a lot of nerve coming here," the man states with a huff.

"Ron, please, just listen to me. I don't even have to see Camilla, not if she's not ready. She might never be ready, and I'm okay with that, I just…"

"You just what? You want to apologize for ruining her life? For ruining mine?"

Isaac licks his lips nervously as he rocks back and forth on his heels.

"It was the only thing I could do… I didn't ruin her life, at least I didn't try to. If we, if I hadn't said anything, Camilla wouldn't have a life anymore," Isaac stammers.

Putting a hand on one of his hips Ron responds, "And how do you know that? Did you get some overnight medical degree from DeVry that deemed you qualified to determine if a person is only going to live another thirty seconds versus another thirty years?"

"Her heart, Ron, I couldn't hear her heart anymore… I was panicking, I was scared. I couldn't let her die when I knew I could try and save her, even if it meant—"

"Even if it meant completely changing her life, Isaac?" Ron interrupts, his voice quieter than before.

"Please stop talking about me when I'm like forty feet away and have these sharp, snazzy new hearing skills," Camilla says from behind Ron. Neither had noticed her entrance.

No one says a word as the three can't figure out the right ones to say. Eyes dart from one face to the other, Camilla's lingering on Isaac's face for a long time. She clears her throat to make it known that she is going to speak.

"Dad, I appreciate you defending me. I know this isn't easy for you. Isaac, you saved my life, and I am more than grateful for that. But in all honesty? This sucks. Not the fact that I'm still alive and I'm still breathing, but the fact that inside of my head everything is arguing. Every second there are these reminders that I'm not fully human anymore, and that you're a lot of the reason why. But then again, I was kidnapped. Tortured and beaten and left for dead. And I need to deal with that. But for some reason, all these things keep pulling at each other in my mind and I just don't know how to feel right now."

Ron's face quivers as he hears Camilla talk about her kidnapping. It was the first time she had really talked about it to him.

Taking a deep breath, the brunette continues, "But what I do know, the only thing that makes any sense to me at all, is that I sure as hell do not want my dad and my ex to kill each other. I don't want to hear you arguing, I don't want to hear the slam of a door, I don't even want to see a glare exchanged between the two of you. This isn't about you two defending my honor or whatever you manly men think you have to do. What's done is done. I'll be okay, but I won't get there alone. I need you both. No matter how differently you two think, the fact of the matter is your opinions don't really matter in this situation. I'm a werewolf, I'm alive, and I need you. Both of you. Got it?"

Both men nod, and Camilla sighs, letting go of the tension she was holding inside her.

"Now," she commands, "Let's all head into the kitchen and see what Susan has whipped up, because I'm hungry."

Isaac waits for Ron to make a move before he steps into the apartment, and when the man pulls the door open a little further, he heads inside. Ron treads into the kitchen first, Camilla trailing behind. But before she crosses under the arch that lead to the food, she looks over at Isaac and smiles ever so lightly. With that smile, Isaac starts to believe that maybe, possibly, perhaps… everything will be okay.

\-------

"Babe?" Erica calls out, not bothering to remove her eyes from the laptop screen in front of her. With on more click on the trackpad, she smiles and waits for Derek to come into their room.

"You know, you're really slacking with Mommy duties today," Derek teases her as he walks in, taking off his shirt which had fresh Francesca drool on it.

Erica eyeballs the man, her eyebrow raised, "Well, if I recall correctly, last night instead of taking your shirt off it was your pants and I'm pretty sure I earned a day off of 'Mommy duties' so…"

Derek chuckles and slides onto the bed next to her, kissing her forehead as he settles in.

"Fair enough, care for round 2?" he nudges her, his white teeth shining as he smiles.

"Not right now, I have something to show you," she reveals, turning her laptop screen so he got a better view.

Derek eyes the screen, "You wanted to show me your shopping cart at Sephora? We're definitely going to need a round 2 if you want to spend all that money."

Erica swats her boyfriend playfully, "No, babe. Wrong tab. But I'm buying it all and there's nothing you can do about that."

Rolling his eyes, Derek watches as Erica switches to another page. This one is a listing for a house in San Francisco.

"San Fran? Are we buying a house for Camilla now?" he questions.

Taking a deep breath Erica replies, "No. I want us to buy a house for us."

"In San Francisco?"

"In San Francisco," Erica confirms.

Derek clears his throat and shifts his weight.

"I thought you wanted to move far away. As far away from Beacon Hills as possible…" he reminds her.

"And I thought I did. Everything is crazy here, and it is absolutely this town that's the problem… But this town is also home to everyone I know. My family; we started here, lost some family, gained some more… Camilla is family… Literally, now. She needs us there for her. And while I definitely want to get out of here, I don't want to leave everyone behind. I still love California, and San Francisco is far enough away from here that I think we'll be okay. But it's close enough that we're not leaving anyone behind."

Derek studies the blonde's face, his features soft and loving.

"You've got a great heart, you know that?" he tells her.

"And a great ass," she jokes.

"That too. I'm in."

Erica widens her eyes and sits up, the laptop tilting sideways and falling from her legs onto the bed.

"Really? San Francisco?"

He smiles, "Really. San Francisco."

\-------

"Are you sure you don't want a ride home?" Stiles asks Scott, "Your house is on the way to Lydia's."

"I can walk it," Scott replies, "besides, I wanna talk to Allison for a second. Just us."

"Just you two?" Stiles smirks, "Does that mean…?"

"I'll see you tomorrow, Stiles."

"That's my boy!"

"Goodbye!" Scott snaps before slipping Stiles a smile.

Stiles nods his head and dips out of the apartment. Scott shuts the door firmly behind him and turns around, walking back to the kitchen where Allison is scrubbing the plates. The werewolf quickly slides up to the other side of the sink and begins to dry the dishes that Allison has already finished washing.

"Lydia and Stiles left?" the girl asks.

"Yeah, Lydia has her AP Something test tomorrow morning and was in desperate need of sleep, so he took her home. It's just you and me."

"I can't believe Lydia is going to Yale.  _Yale_. She's going to the same school as Hillary Clinton and Meryl Streep. Our Lydia, the Banshee and the Bulldog."

"And Nolan's headed off to Dartmouth. We've got the valedictorian and salutatorian in our pack," Scott laughs, "who would've thought? Remember when Lydia used to pretend not to be smart? She's come a long, long way. We all have. If you would've told me at the start of freshman year this is where I would be by the time it was graduation, I wouldn't have believed you."

"No kidding and you're going to Michigan," Allison says, sounding sad, "that's really amazing, Scott."

"Yeah, well, it's funny you should mention that…"

"Why's that?"

"Because I just made the decision to stay in Beacon Hills actually. I'm going to UCBH next year."

Scott hears Allison's heartbeat pick up as she says, "Really?"

"Yeah, I don't wanna leave my mom or Stiles or, well, uh, you."

"Me?" Allison asks.

"You," Scott says again as he sets down the dish towel with Allison following suit, "you were a big… big influence in my decision, Allison. In fact, every decision I make seems to have a heavy helping of Allison Argent in it. It's you. It's always been you."

"What are you saying, Scott?" Allison laughs, feeling light headed.

"I'm saying it's because I love you, Allison. I've loved you for… ever. You're the one. You're the love of my life, you've left me and I've left you and somehow… some crazy, insane, likely supernatural way we always find our way back to each other. We're meant to be."

"Meant to be?"

"Remember how you said you don't believe in fate?" Scott asks as he takes a step closer to Allison.

"Yes."

"Well I do. It's fate that we be together, Allison. You're the one."

Scott closes the distance between them now, locking their lips. His hands are in Allison's hair and hers are running up and down his muscular sides. Scott lifts her now and sets her on the kitchen island. She's unbuttoning his shirt, revealing smooth, tanned skin and he's lifting her shirt up and over her head.

"I love you," she breathes as his warm torso presses against hers, "I love you, Scott McCall."

They kiss again and Scott lifts her up, taking her out of the kitchen, through the living room, down the hall and to Allison's bedroom, kicking the door closed behind them.

\-------

"Are you hungry?" Jackson asks Nolan as they sit on the couch watching  _The Way We Were_  – Jackson's pick which in hindsight was not the most uplifting film to be watching in a time like this, but it was one of his favorite movies.

"Always. What did you have in mind?" Nolan asks as he pauses the movie just as Barbra Streisand's hand is inches away from Robert Redford's. The man is wearing his white Armed Forces uniform and Nolan can't help but picture Jackson in a uniform just like that.

"Gary's. Greasy, greasy Gary's Pizza. Best in Beacon Hills," Jackson smiles.

"With mushrooms and green olives?"

"Like there's any other way to order a pizza."

Nolan chuckles, "God I love you. I haven't eaten since yesterday at lunch… oh my god, I haven't eaten in a day. I haven't even thought about eating… oh my god, I am starving."

"Chinese too?"

"Kung-Pow Chicken, beef and broccoli, General Tso's Chicken, and as many Crab Rangoon as they can make."

"You eating for two? Are we about to become the proud fathers of a fourth demon half werewolf baby?"

"Talk about an abomination."

"Okay, I'm calling Gary's and then Mrs. Kim's Chinese Kitchen," Jackson tells his boyfriend, "do you want dessert?"

"Yes," Nolan smiles.

"Cherry pie from Kirk's or triple chocolate layer cake from that little bakery right down the street from where JavaPit used to be?"

"Yes," Nolan smiles, flashing his straight white teeth.

"You're a pig."

"And you're a werewolf, but I don't judge you!"

Just as Jackson pulls his phone out of his pocket the doorbell rings. The boys exchange a glance as Jane Fonda starts barking from upstairs. Nolan raises an eyebrow and says, "The pizza boys at Gary's are psychic. Who would've thought," as he stands up to answer the door.

The boy's bare feet make a sticking sound on the hardwood as he gets to the front door and wraps his hand around the handle, pulling it open to reveal a tall, dark haired man on the other side. The man's green eyes shine in the glow of the porch light in a beautiful and eerie way.

"Can I help you?" Nolan asks, his tone a tad more jaded than it had been when he'd first moved to Beacon Hills, Jackson notes.

"I'm Jordan Parrish," the man says sounding like Prince Eric from  _The Little Mermaid._

"Nice to meet you, can I help you?" Nolan asks again.

The man chuckles and runs his big hand over the back of his neck, "I'm looking for Annalise Hayes, is she around?"

\-------


	44. Somewhere Only We Know (5x08)

Scott looks at himself in the mirror. Curly hair tamed, face freshly shaven, crisp suit, and his tie… crap.

“Mom? Can you come tie my tie?” The werewolf calls out as he looks up at the ceiling, feeling a bit childish that he has to ask his mom for something so seemingly simple.

Within a few moments, Melissa appears in Scott’s doorway, her fingers fumbling to put a small diamond stud in her left ear.

“How old are you again?” she asks jokingly, her hands reaching out for the tie once she is able to clasp the earring securely.

“Yeah yeah yeah…” Scott rolls his eyes. “It’s not like I need to know how since I’m not going to Michigan anymore. I’ve got you for whatever I need.”

Melissa gives Scott an amused look, “Whatever you need? Really? Now that I’ve got to put a kid through college I’ll be pulling extra shifts. Maybe that new girlfriend of yours can do your laundry instead.”

Scott smiles, Allison’s face popping into his mind. Despite the fact that he was about to go to a funeral, everything seemed to be going very well for Scott McCall.

Right as Melissa finishes straightening his charcoal grey tie, the doorbell rings.

“Get that for me, will ya?” Scott’s mother asks as she sashays away, disappearing into her own bedroom to finish getting ready.

Scott obliges and clomps down the stairs, his dress shoes a bit heavier than the Converse he was used to wearing.

He yanks open the door and peers out at the spitting image of himself.

“Dad?”

Rafael smiles and leans against the doorjamb, “Hey kiddo. Neat suit, what’s the occaision?”

“Funeral,” Scott states with no emotion in his voice.

The man pulls his mouth back in a grimace and clears his throat.

“Anyone I know…?” he questions cautiously, a little afraid of the answer.

“A friend’s sister… She was murdered.”

Rafael nods his head and scratches at the scruff on his jaw.

“Is she one of the ones killed by that Spencer Seeley?”

Scott nods slowly, his forehead crinkling, “How did you know?”

The man shrugs, “You kill around twenty people across the U.S. and the FBI is gonna hear about it.”

“So that’s why you’re here, then,” Scott guesses, his shoulders falling a bit.

“Scott, you know I’m here for your graduation. This just happened to be a very large coincidence. But I promise, this week is all about you, my high school graduate. No work stuff will get in the way. You have my word.”

Scott ponders his father’s words for a moment before he pulls the door open wider.

“Well, I can’t really invite you to another person’s funeral, but I’m sure Mom won’t care if you hang out here for a bit,” he offers.

“If who hangs out here for a bit?” Melissa’s voice inquires from inside the house. She spots Rafael and smirks. “Ah. Well. Scott’s right, make yourself at home, we’ve got a dead body to see. Let’s go, Scott.”

With that she brushes past the two men when Scott calls out to her.

“Really, Mom? A dead body to see?”

The woman shrugs, “Sorry. Dry humor is a defense mechanism, funeral plus ex in my house equals inappropriate Melissa. But for real, we gotta go.”

Scott lets go of the door handle and leaves it open for Rafael to step inside.

“I’ll see you later?”

Rafael nods curtly, “I’ll be here.”

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

In another part of Beacon Hills, another fellow finds himself knocking on an ex’s door. Isaac silently wishes that Ron won’t be the one to open up.

Much to his delight, the bright-faced Susan greets him with a thousand-watt smile.

“Oh, Isaac! Hi sweetie!” she cheers, pulling him into a hug; her face feeling warm against his cheek. “I would love to chat more, honey, but I still have so much left to get done for Nolan’s reception and I’m sure you and Camilla should leave soon.”

“No worries as long as there’ll be some chocolate chip cookies there,” he smiles, feeling more comfortable than he thought he would.

Susan shakes her head playfully, “You and your cookies. Of course I baked some. It’s the best comfort food.”

With that, she squeezes Isaac’s hand and trots back into the kitchen, though it’s more of a speed trot than anything else. As she disappears, Camilla steps out of the hallway that led to the rest of the apartment.

She looks stunning in a little black dress, her hair pulled behind her ear on one side, a fresh glow on her face. Isaac couldn’t help but smile.

“Ready?” she asks with a hopeful tone, her hand clutching a small Michael Kors purse that hung off her shoulder and rested right against her left hip.

“Yeah, let’s go,” he responds, gesturing for her to exit through the open door. Camilla walks forward and steps in front of Isaac to leave. As she passes by, he catches a wiff of her perfume… his favorite one of hers.

He glides the door shut behind him and off the two go to the funeral of Annalise Hayes.

\-------

Nolan stands in the back room of the funeral home feeling a painful fluttering in his chest. His heart is beating a mile a minute. It feels like it might split and if it did, well, thank god Nolan was already in a building full of caskets. Easy disposal.

The boy fans himself as thoughts of Annalise flood his mind.

“Dude, are you okay?” Stiles asks, appearing out of nowhere.

“I think, uh, I think I might be having a panic attack,” Nolan spits out.

“Okay. Okay, just calm down. Talk to me.”

“I don't know what you want me to say, Stiles," Nolan says speaking more quickly, more intensely, "Spencer killed my sister. He killed her and he staged her body and… god I can’t catch my breath.”

“Just try and calm down.”

“His attention to detail was supreme, I’ll give him that. I mean, that smile he drew on my sister's face was a beautiful homage to the Black Dahlia or, or, or Heath Ledger! And the music, wow, the music choice was also chilling. 'Blue Velvet.' They were watching _Blue Velvet_... David Lynch... I guess staging a crime scene like something right out of _Twin Peaks_ with the soundtrack to the last movie my sister would ever see playing in the background was... well it was something else. Clearly Spencer’s a fan of good ole Mr. Lynch.”

“Nolan, I–”

The auburn haired boy continues on, “And the candles. Wow. Those candles. Honestly that kitchen was like something right out of one of Stephen King's wet dreams. And speaking of Stephen King, you should have seen _me._ Covered in blood. I looked like Carrie at the fucking prom. Only I wasn’t Sissy Spacek doused in corn syrup, nope, I was Nolan Hayes covered in his dead sister’s blood!”

“Just breathe, okay, Nolan, just breathe,” Stiles insists as he watches Nolan take a seat in one of the tall backed chairs in the room.

“There was just so much blood. So much blood. So much that Quentin Tarantino would’ve thought it was a little over the top.”

Stiles shakes his head, “I don’t know how it’s possible you just referenced as many things as you did, but, you did it and Nolan I gotta tell you, dwelling on what you saw like this is not good for you. It’ll eat you alive.”

“I think it’s already gotten a pretty big bite outta me,” Nolan stammers, “Stiles, I can’t do this. I can’t go out there and act like this is some regular, sweet funeral. I can’t. I can’t go look at my senior class and half the faculty of Beacon Hills High and act like what happened just randomly happened. Or like I didn’t see something that would’ve scared Rosemary’s Baby right back to the womb.”

Crouching down Stiles asks, “Okay, well then what do you want to do? Do you wanna run? My Jeep is parked right outside, we can blow this corpsicle stand and hope that someone else will run the show. I can read your eulogy for you if that’s what this is about. I’ll gladly read it. Or I can get the pack together and we can get all those not included to scram… you name it, it’s done.”

“I just… I…”

“Breathe,” Stiles reminds the boy.

“I just need a minute,” Nolan sighs.

“Take all the time you need. Do you want me to go?”

Nolan grabs Stiles’ hand and squeezes it, “No… stay. Please.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Stiles says as he gets out of his crouch to sit flat on the floor.

“Thank you.”

\-------

Lydia stands in the bathroom and stares at herself in the ornately carved wooden mirror. Setting her purse on the small counter the girl opens it up and produces a light blue tube of lipstick. She pulls off the cap and rolls out the color – Dare You – and puts it on her plump lips.

Out of the corner of her eye she notices the wall sconce start to flicker.

“Eerily,” the girl comments as she smacks her lips together, spreading the lipstick more evenly.

As the words leave her mouth the bulb in the sconce makes a strange, almost screaming sound, and bursts. Glass flies upward and sticks into the scalloped ceiling tile.

Lydia swallows hard and shoves her lipstick back into her purse.

She gives no second thought to getting the hell out of the bathroom after that, pausing to tell Mrs. McClain – her freshman year Pre-Calculus teacher – to be careful before she enters. The white haired woman gives Lydia a confused look.

“The bulb burst,” Lydia explains, “just… shattered.”

“That happens, dear,” Mrs. McClain replies.

“Trust me, Mrs. McClain… nothing ‘just’ happens.”

\-------

Camilla’s legs bounce up and down as she sits nervously in one of the seats lined up for the funeral. It is near the front, but not too close, also not in the middle, because that’s where losers sit. And the back is for people who either shouldn’t have come or were too busy sneaking peeks on their cellphones to really experience the funeral.

God, Camilla hates funerals.

Things had been going surprisingly well with Isaac. He wasn’t too prying, but he didn’t ignore her either. Camilla was essentially waiting for the other shoe to drop… the relationship shoe. But with Nolan’s sister’s funeral, their rekindling was - hopefully - the last thing on either one’s mind.

Isaac had excused himself moments ago to go say hi to someone from somewhere, Camilla didn’t know. Her current thoughts are focused on Nolan. Should she say something? Should she go up to him?

Before her thoughts can go on, she feels a warm hand on her shoulder and knows it’s Scott before she even looks up.

“Hey, how’s it going?” he mumbles, clearly unsure of what to say.

“Feelin’ wolfy and wonderful,” she sings.

Scott chuckles awkwardly, “Yeah, I bet. Um… Yeah. Well, how’s Nolan? I figured you’d be sitting up there with him.” Both werewolves’ eyes travel to the front row, where Nolan isn’t sitting but rather pacing in front of. Jackson has his head in his hands, clearly worn out from trying to console Nolan to no avail.

“Front row’s for family,” Camilla mutters in a low voice.

Scott cocks his head a bit, “Well you’re basically the only family he’s got, right?”

Camilla shakes her head quickly, not as an answer to Scott’s question, but just as a reaction to the thoughts racing through her mind.

“Yeah… well… C’est la vie,” she shrugs.

“I don’t think that—“

Whipping her head to have full eye contact with the boy, Camilla interrupts him, “Shut it, McCall. Why don’t you go take a seat and leave the prying to the news journalists flocking around this place.”

Scott stands next to Camilla for a moment longer, then heeds her advice and eases his way into the row, a few seats away.

Camilla sits in peace for about 45 more seconds before Scott leans over and whispers, “Did you hear that Spencer is being sent to Eichen House?”

The brunette grits her teeth and stares straight ahead as she spits out, “Yes, Scott. Now that’s enough chitchat for today, got it?”

Scott backs away slowly and turns to face the front too. Soon enough, the row starts filling up and distance is put in between the two.

\-------

Nolan stands at the podium after having been introduced to the room full of people by Pastor Danes. The boy swallows hard and smooths his crinkled speech out on the flat, wooden top of the podium. His hands are sweaty and he smears the words, not enough that they’re unreadable, but enough that they’re very clearly smudged.

“H-hello,” Nolan stammers, his eyes scan the crowd. He sees Scott sitting with his arm around Allison, Isaac holding the hand of Camilla who is doing everything she can to not look at Nolan. Stiles sits beside Lydia, holding her hand and looking worried. In front of Lydia is Jackson whose eyes are full of worry too, his body so tense it looks like he could jump up and carry Nolan out of the room at any second. He might need to.

“I’m Nolan, Annalise’s little brother. Thank you all for coming today, I know my sister would have appreciated it….”

Just then the doors at the back of the door swing open and in walks the man who had come to Nolan’s house a few days prior asking for Annalise. The only person that seems to note his entrance is Lydia, whose red head is turned around to watch him as he saunters into the jam-packed room.

The man is wearing a black button down shirt underneath a black leather jacket and looks like something out of GQ: Grim Reaper Edition. He takes a seat beside Principal Newcastle and his wife and nods to Nolan. As Parrish’s head slowly bobs back up Nolan feels something. Something strange. Like a series of small shocks all up and down his spine and in his fingers, just as he begins talking about his sister’s amazing academic accomplishments at Duke University the lights begin to flicker.

“That’s odd,” Pastor Danes notes quietly.

“As a, uh… um… a member of Alpha Delta Pi, my sister knew a lot about being outstanding,” Nolan mumbles as the lights flicker again and then suddenly, startlingly burst.

Glass begins to rain from the ceiling as gasps and screams fill the air.

“What the hell?” Pastor Danes swears.

Nolan watches, his heart stuck in his throat, as Parrish slowly stands and walks out of the frantic room amidst people running and hollering out. For a brief second Nolan swears he sees the man’s leather jacket flash with flames, but before the boy can panic about it the man is gone and Jackson is grabbing his hand, tugging him out of the room.

“Are you okay?” Jackson asks as he leads Nolan to the main sitting area of the funeral home.

“I’m fine, I think. I’m fine,” Nolan responds.

Brushing glass out of her curled hair Lydia walks up to the two boys and says, “That’s beyond coincidental.”

“What is?” Stiles asks as he approaches.

“When I was in the bathroom earlier, the light bulb burst in one of the lights in there too. I highly doubt that the wiring in one of the most frequently used buildings in Beacon Hills is shotty.”

“Whatever the reason,” Jackson states, “I’m just glad everyone is okay.”

“Me too,” Nolan mumbles as he spots a firefly zipping around the crowded front hall.

\-------

Nolan is empty. Maybe that’s why he finds himself trotting into the kitchen, the place he would go to when he felt empty. Were hungry and empty the same thing?

The kitchen, now though, had lost a lot of its charm.

Inside, he sees Susan bustling about, a cute apron tied around her small waist. The woman nearly collides with the boy as she moves.

“Nolan, oh gosh, I’m sorry! Silly me, I can hardly think anymore. I’m almost out of trays, for some reason there are absolutely no knives and no kitchen table! Are you one of those living room eaters?”

Nolan gulps as he peers into Susan’s curious eyes. Her words remind him of why everyone is here, why he feels so empty. He knows she doesn’t mean it, Susan could do no harm to anyone. Yet it’s her words that feel like knives plunging into his gut… Though he knew it wasn’t actually happening since she had just pointed out there were, in fact, no knives in Nolan’s kitchen.

“No, um, I’m sorry. The table was where she… and the police took all the knives because they… um…” he stammers, licking his lips as he tries to think of the words. He could think of plenty, but he knew if he said them he would probably throw up. Or Susan would throw up. Or they would both throw up.

“Oh, no. Oh my gosh. Susan, oh no, Susan you did it again. Sweetie, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking, I was just… Oh my gosh,” Susan chirps, over and over, her hands flying everywhere, touching her face, her hair, her stomach, Nolan’s arm.

“It’s okay. It’s okay,” Nolan says, though his words hardly seem to meet Susan’s ears, her antics still wild, her eyes darting everywhere. Nolan thinks she looks like a robot shorting out. And soon, he realizes if he just backs out of the kitchen slowly, he won’t have to deal with her anymore.

\-------

Lydia sees him again.

Still in his black leather jacket it. Still unmoving, unblinking. There’s something off about him, Lydia can tell. She isn’t sure what it is that’s off about him, but she knows that he isn’t just a run of the mill funeral goer.

With a glass of sweet tea in her hand Lydia walks up to him, her black heels clicking gently on the hardwood floors of the Hayes house. Now face to face with the man Lydia smiles and says sweetly, “I’m Lydia Martin, a friend of Nolan’s. You are?”

The man stares at her intently and flashes a smile before replying, “Jordan Parrish, pleased to meet you.”

“Likewise. How did you know Annalise?” Lydia asks.

“She and I used to date. Back when she was living in North Carolina. We broke up shortly before she moved here to Beacon Hills actually.”

“Oh?”

Parrish nods his head, “I was actually ready to propose… guess I really missed my chance.”

“How did you know about her funeral?” Lydia asks, “As far as I know the only obituary that was printed for Annalise was in the Beacon Tribune. Were you having one of those sent to your house in North Carolina?”

“I dropped by the day after she died and Nolan told me that he was planning a funeral. I told him I was staying at the Nexus Hotel and that whenever he scheduled the funeral to let me know. Can I just say you’re a very beautiful girl, Miss Martin?”

Lydia scoffs, “Are you hitting on me? At a funeral?”

“Is that in poor taste?” he asks.

“For a multitude of reasons, actually. For one, this is the funeral for a girl you were ready to marry, for another this is a funeral. Third you’re probably about twelve years older than me, which is far too _Lolita_ for my taste, and fourth I have a boyfriend.”

“Is that so?”

“It is.”

“You have a boyfriend.”

Lydia smiles, “Yes, I have a boyfriend.”

“And he’s the fourth reason it’s in poor taste for me to flirt with you? Not first? That’s awfully telling, Miss Martin.”

“Hey, Lydia,” Stiles says, walking around Mrs. Trumbolt to get to his girlfriend and Annalise’s ex, “these crab cakes are top drawer. You gotta have one. Who’s the jolly giant?”

Lydia shoots a glare in Parrish’s direction as she says, “Stiles, this is Jordan Parrish. Jordan, this is my boyfriend, Stiles. I hate to cut our conversation short, but we really ought to go find Nolan. We’re here to support him, not make idle chit-chat with North Carolinians.”

“It was a pleasure, Miss Martin,” Parrish says with a smirk, “and Stiles, it was great to meet you too.”

Before Stiles can get in another word Lydia is leading her boyfriend away from the older man. The two are in the foyer, bobbing and weaving around Pastor Danes and Kallie Sulez and various students and faculty members, until they are in the farthest corner of the dining room.

“Want to explain what that was all about?” Stiles asks as he slides a lemon bar in his mouth.

“That man over there, Annalise’s ex-almost fiancé, was just hitting on me.”

Stiles’ face goes blank, “He was doing what?”

“He was flirting with me,” Lydia frowns, “as if a funeral were prime time to be making a move on a girl. I mean for god’s sake this isn’t a single’s mixer. I wouldn’t be at one of those because A) they’re sad and B) I have a boyfriend.”

“He was hitting on you,” Stiles asks as he nostrils begin to flare, “I’ll kick his ass,” the boy snaps as he slams his paper plate on the dining room table, taking off back toward the living room where Parrish had just been trying to pick up _his_ girlfriend.

Before Stiles can even make it out the door Lydia is yanking him back, “Not the time, not the place, Stiles.”

“Oh, I disagree,” Stiles barks. “I’m ready to rip Lothario a new one.”

Lydia rolls her eyes as she rushes up to get in front of the taller boy. She puts a hand on his chest and says, “Relax, Stilinski. Just relax.”

“No. Nobody disrespects me or my girl,” Stiles states.

Just as the pair get into the foyer Mr. Mitchell steps out of the bathroom, allowing Lydia the perfect opportunity to shove her boyfriend into the small, tiled room. Stiles slides into the bathroom, hitting the wall with a definitive thud, just as Lydia slips in behind him and locks the door.

“Why are you stopping me from beating Fabio out there to a pulp?”

“Because this is Nolan’s sister’s funeral. Remember? That’s why everyone is wearing black and is sad? Now is hardly the time for you to prove that you’re the big man on campus,” Lydia remarks, “besides that, that guy is beefy and is at least 6 foot. I don’t need you getting all black eyed and bloody.”

“He hit on you,” Stiles huffs.

“Yes.”

“I’m a little jealous.”

“I noticed,” Lydia says.

“I love you,” Stiles says, “I love you a lot and I don’t like that big, muscular older men are making eyes at you. It’s predatory. It’s like _Lolita_ Lydia-fied.”

Putting her hand on the side of Stiles’ cheek Lydia smiles, “You’re the one for me, Stilinski. I’m not trading you in for an older model.”

“Good.”

Lydia leans forward and kisses Stiles soft on the lips, “I love you the most.”

“And I love you ten times more than that,” Stiles sighs before adding, “now let’s go get some of the crab cakes before Tall, Dark, and Pedophilic eats them all.”

\-------

"So she," Ben says, nodding his head toward Lydia, "she's a banshee? What the hell does that even mean?"

Malia takes a sip of coffee and says, "Harbinger of death, let's just leave it at that."

"And those two," he continues, his eyes moving over to Scott and Isaac, "are werewolves and the one with the dark hair is the reason you were on crutches for two months last fall?"

"Yes and yes, but that was... it was a complicated situation. There are no hard feelings about that incident."

"And Nolan and Annalise are demons, or half demons? Which they got from their mother who killed herself last summer and then came back in the body of another woman just in time for homecoming?"

"I'm very proud of how well you're keeping up and handling all of this," Malia says with a smile, "I didn't expect you to wig, but if you had wigged I would've understood because this is some serious wig-worthy supernatural, JK Rowling, Eli Roth shit."

Ben straightens his tie, "After I did all of that investigating into the Reyes Family murders and the Hale Fire and the Allison Argent murder turned kidnapping case I figured there was some... otherworldly reasons everything was happening the way it was. The Cult, while a somewhat believable source of evil, was just a little too... I don't know... too easy. It seemed like a scapegoat and, low and behold, it was."

"It was indeed."

"My girlfriend is a demon hunter," Ben says slowly, "a demon hunter. A hunter of demons. Like Buffy or Faith. Unconventional sure, but at least you're not a vegan or a scientologist or something."

Malia laughs, "You're a really good boyfriend."

"Hey, if I wasn't you'd probably be kicking my ass."

"Ya know, when you and I first started dating, Annalise was the one who really helped me get my head in the game," Malia says, "I had one serious boyfriend before you, his name was Ryan O'Neal and he was a hunter too... and he died. He died in the line of duty, fighting off some woogy somewhere.. I don't know the details, our superiors Trevor and Lisa never filled me in, but... Annalise knew that I was scared to fall in love again. She knew I was and she talked me off the ledge. She told me I was ready. And here we are today, happy and healthy and alive... but Annalise is..."

Ben wraps his arm around his girlfriend as tears start to slide down her cheeks, "Hey, shhh, come on. Annalise is in  a better place."

"I miss her."

"I know you do."

\-------

“When you were here before…” Camilla mumbles very softly, very slowly under her breath. She peers around the room, and when she sees no one is watching her, she tips her flask over the cup in her hand, adding some courage to the liquid.

“Couldn’t look you in the eye,” she continues, slipping the flask back into her purse. “You’re just like an angel.”

“Please tell me you’re not singing ‘Creep’ and spiking your own drink right now,” a voice says from behind her, making her jump, her drink sloshing onto the back of her hand.

She turns around and sighs, “Your skin makes me cry…”

“Tequila?” Nolan asks, gesturing towards her cup.

“You float like a feather…” Camilla replies as she nods, offering the cup to the boy.

Shaking his head, but taking the cup, Nolan says, “I know it’s your dream to have a large group of people break into song and dance, but I don’t think this is the proper occasion nor do I think Radiohead is a good choice for a group number.”

Camilla doesn’t speak, doesn’t even respond with the next lyrics of the song. She merely watches Nolan tilt his head back and finish her drink.

“So, hi,” he says, groaning from the burn of tequila. “It’s been a while.”

Biting her lip, Camilla states, “I’m a werewolf now.”

“And my sister is dead,” Nolan adds.

Taking a deep breath, Camilla tells Nolan she’s sorry.

“Me too,” he says back. The two stand in silence until Camilla breaks it.

“Wanna head outside and finish my flask?”

“I swear I’m not trying to be cute and purposefully rhyme, but, I thought you’d never ask,” Nolan says in one breath.

Together, Nolan and Camilla slip out the back door and sit on the surprisingly cold concrete of his back stoop. With the flask passed back and forth between the two, the break in their bond finds itself repaired. Neither one is much for apologies and reconciliation, so this is the perfect way for the both of them to say “I’m very sorry and I love you.”

“So do you want to talk about your sister?” Camilla asks, her thumbs fiddling.

“I feel like I’ve said all I can say…” Nolan reveals. “She’s gone and I’m sad but I have to keep going. Do you want to talk about being a werewolf?”

The girl shrugs, “I can hear better, see better, smell better. That’s about it.”

“And you’re alive. The last time I saw you… I didn’t think I would ever see you alive again. I thought the next time I saw your face you would either be haunting me in ghost form or I would be dead too and I’d see you in whatever netherworld we’re going to end up in.”

“It will more than likely be hell due to all this underage drinking we’re a part of,” the brunette halfheartedly jokes, taking one last swig from the flask.

“Everything just changed so quickly… And soon enough we’re going to be leaving each other again for college,” Nolan reminds her, finishing off the tequila. The boy looks up at the sky. The moon had somehow snuck its way into the sky, though the sun hadn’t finished its descent. He almost liked it better that way. With the sun still up, everything was okay, but he could see the moon and all its glory, the fullness of it. A beautiful full moon.

“Hey, I’ll be right back okay? I just need to take a walk, maybe the tequila will hit me harder if I get my blood pumping,” Nolan tells his friend, standing up and feeling a small ache in his knees from having them bent for so long.

“Uh huh, sure,” Camilla answers, her voice sounding far away, but Nolan doesn’t notice. The only thing he notices is that moon.

Camilla, too, is staring up at it. She hears Nolan disappear rather than sees it, but his footsteps are a mere background noise. He’s gone for two minutes when Camilla decides to take a stroll of her own. Something was almost pulling her to get up and walk. She doesn’t understand it, but it just feels right. And as the full moon rises higher in the sky, the two best friends walk their separate ways.

\-------

“Hey,” Jackson says as he approaches Scott and Allison who are sitting on the couch looking through one of the few photo albums Nolan had been able to find in the attic of Annalise, “have either of you guys seen Nolan?”

“Not since we got here,” Allison replies just as Isaac walks up to the three of them.

“Have any of you seen Camilla?” the tall boy asks.

“Not since we got here,” Scott replies, evoking a giggle from Allison.

“Do you guys not realize what time of the month it is?” Isaac asks, stress clear in his voice.

Jackson raises an eyebrow, “You on your period, Lahey?”

“No you anti-feminist dick. It’s the full moon – as in Camilla’s _first_ full moon,” Isaac informs the group, “do you two remember your first full moons? Because I remember mine and it wasn’t full of rainbows and glitter.”

“She’s been acting fine,” Allison states, her tone much more serious than before, “one of us has been with her all day and up until she separated from the herd the fact that it’s the full moon wasn’t even on anyone’s radar.”

“Chances are she’s with Nolan,” Scott chimes in, “things between them have been weird since, well, Spencer, honestly. I’m sure they found their way back to each other and made up; under both of their circumstances, they need each other. So my best guess, knowing those two, they’re probably somewhere halfway into a bottle of whiskey or scotch or…”

“Tequila,” Isaac and Jackson say in unison.

“I can feel Camilla – as her alpha, I can feel her and she feels a little tense, but is there a werewolf among us that doesn’t?”

“Your first full moon… didn’t you want to rip Allison apart because you loved her so much?” Isaac asks.

Allison narrows her gaze, “Is that romantic or horrific?”

“Camilla loves Nolan, not romantically, but she loves him,” Isaac begins.

“Which means if Camilla is anything like Scott, the big bad teen wolf who bit her, then she may very well express her love through the shredding of soft, pale, mostly human flesh?” Jackson concludes, fear and anger clear in his tone and expression, “We need to find them.”

“I’ve got wolfsbane in the trunk of my car,” Allison tells them, “in case we need it. And weapons, a good hunter always come prepared. My dad taught me that.”

Scott stands up and lets out a sigh, “Let’s hope we don’t need weapons.”

\-------

Camilla is wearing no shoes, she abandoned them a while back. She doesn’t know why, but being barefoot felt… better. Her eyes are still glued on the moon.

“The full moon,” she whispers to no one. As she treads further and further into an area she doesn’t know, she waits for it. For the chaotic feeling to take over. For her wolf self to show up for the first time.

But for some reason, all she feels is calm. She doesn’t feel like ripping anyone’s head off. She doesn’t have the desire to run naked on all fours across town. What’s wrong with her?

Her steps take her closer to the moon, at least she thinks they do. She doesn’t know anything about if the vicinity of the moon has anything to do with its effect on werewolves, but if she is going to turn into some vicious, teeth-gnashing beast, she’d rather do it out in the middle of nowhere than in front of innocent people. Not even Isaac should have to deal with her in wolf form.

Thoughts of Isaac lead to images of him in Camilla’s mind, and she nearly jumps when she imagines she hears his voice call out.

“Camilla?”

Shaking it off, the girl keeps moving, her dress getting caught on small branches sticking out from the trees and such surrounding her.

“Maybe this is how it begins,” she proposes to herself. “Maybe I start hearing voices, and then I just go crazy…”

“Camilla, I can hear your voice! Who are you talking to?” Isaac’s imaginary voice speaks to her again. She knows it’s all in her head, but damn it sounds so real, so close to her.

“Okay, okay, here it goes, wolf time,” she talks aloud again. Soon, the crunching of her own feet is joined by more crunching. More mind tricks?

She speeds up her walk, admittedly a bit nervous, and as she does, so do the other footsteps.

“Camilla, stop!” Isaac yells. This time, it feels more real. Almost like she can feel the vibrations from his voice wrap around her body. She stops. She turns around.

Nothing. There is nothing. She furrows her brows and looks harder. As she tries to focus on a small, small shape next to a tree very far away, she hears someone breathing to her right.

And there stands Isaac.

“Camilla, are you okay? What are you doing?” he asks with worry in his words.

“Are you real?” she questions cautiously, taking one step back.

“Of course I’m real. We’ve all been worried. It’s a full moon. Your first one.”

“I know,” she replies. “That’s why I left.”

Isaac throws his hands up in the air, “Why did you think leaving was a good idea? So you could transform and have no one there to take care of you? What were you thinking?”

“If you haven’t noticed, Isaac, I’m fine. I feel nothing. There is no fraction of me that feels any part wild or wolf-like. Absolutely nothing,” she reveals, her voice monotonous as she expresses her disappointment.

Isaac’s face contorts with confusion, and a bit of relief.

“Well, that’s a good thing, I guess,” he says with a shrug. “You’re okay.”

Camilla huffs and shakes her head. She feels hot tears welling up in her eyes and she’s not really sure why until the words just come pouring out of her.

“No, I’m not. I’m really not okay.”

Isaac closes the space between them and says, “Camilla, I know it’s not easy to just wake up as a werewolf but—“

“No, Isaac. I’m a werewolf, that’s great, if I wasn’t I would be dead. It’s the lesser of two evils. I’m like over that.”

“Then what is it?” Isaac inquires, placing a hand on Camilla’s arm.

She immediately retracts from his touch and yells, “It’s him! It’s what he did to me. No one is talking about it. About me in that dark, scary basement. He tortured me, he had me hanging from the ceiling, he…”

Camilla’s voice breaks as she speaks. The tears can’t be stopped now, they come out hot and angry, staining her cheeks.

“Camilla…” Isaac says softly.

“He raped me.”

Camilla turns her head away, not being able to see the look on Isaac’s face. She knew it would make her feel worse than she already did.

“And no one knows,” she continues, still unable to look at him. “By the time I was examined, the healing probably took over and left no sign of it. But I can’t… I can’t just keep it a secret anymore. It’s eating me alive.”

“Camilla, I had no idea… I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say I…” Isaac tries to console her, but his own anger, his empathy keeps the words from coming out. He is so overwhelmed with emotion, no thing he can say can express what he is feeling.

“Just be with me, okay? Right here, right now, I just need you to hold me and not say anything because anything you say just reminds me of that vile man and what he did and I just want to cry, but I don’t want to be alone, not anymore.”

Camilla finally looks up at Isaac, her eyes wet in the moonlight, begging Isaac for help.

“I’ll never let you be alone again,” he tells her right as he wraps her body in an embrace. He feels her body shudder with sobs and he doesn’t let go. He’ll never let go.

\-------

In his hands is white marble.

In the light of the full moon the marble sparkles. It’s beautiful, he thinks, almost as beautiful as the girl whose ashes are inside. As he walks deeper into the woods he hears footsteps behind him, they’re light which means the belong to the boy – everything was going according to plan.

Deeper into the woods he goes moonlight shining through the overhang of trees less and less and less.

It’s dark.

Very dark.

“Parrish,” rings out Nolan’s voice, stronger than the boy thought it would be, “stop!”

The man turns around and in the dark Nolan can see his eyes.

Orange.

Like fire.

Nolan swallows hard, his heartbeat picking up, “I said stop, goddammit!”

Deeper into the woods the two men go when they suddenly stop. The man carrying the white marble urn turns around and looks up at the moon. There are no trees blocking the light here and the ground around him is clear.

Completely clear.

All except for a stump.

A stump that Nolan now notices is humming.

“Do you know where we are?” Parrish asks, “Do you know what this is?”

Nolan shakes his head no as he watches Parrish take the lid off of his sister’s urn and throw it to the wayside. As the piece of marble hits the dirt Nolan just barely sees a single firefly shoot out through one of the cracks in the tree stump.

“This is a Nemeton, Nolan,” Parrish says, his voice crystal clear – cutting through the night like a knife. “This right here is the key to why Beacon Hills is such a hot spot for the supernatural. Every single creature in this town is tied to this stump. Each root belongs to a different, unique supernatural creature – be they a banshee, a demon, a werewolf… whatever they are their roots can be traced back to this very stump.”

“How do you know all of this,” Nolan asks, his voice shaky now.

“I’m a Hellhound. I know more than you might think and I have many jobs. I do the bidding of the demons and much like the banshee, I’m a harbinger of death, but instead of sensing death like your sweet Lydia does, I’m a guardian of the entrance to the Netherworld. The place between life and afterlife. This is the place Malum Radix resides, the place that calls to Lydia warning her that someone is soon to die… it’s the place where the demons roam.”

“The demons,” Nolan repeats.

“Your mother. Your sister. You. You all come from the Netherworld. Your roots are here at the Nemeton. It is my job to bring you to it – to _finally_ bring you to it. Your sister didn’t know any of this so it doesn’t surprise me that you don’t either. I’m sure if you asked your banshee about this spot, this stump… or even if you asked your Alpha about it they would be able to tell you about their connection to it. Even puny, human Stiles is connected to the Nemeton.”

“What does this mean? What does all of this mean? Why did you bring me here and why did you steal my sister’s ashes?”

Parrish shuts his eyes and opens them again to show Nolan his real eyes – the glowing, fiery orange eyes Nolan had just gotten a glimpse of back in the woods, “I brought you here because you’ve absorbed the demonic power that once belonged to your sister. The power that your mother gave to you both when she conceived you. It’s time you find out what it really means to be a Halfling. I’m your Hellhound, Nolan. I’m doing the bidding you didn’t even know you wanted done.”

Before Nolan can ask another question Parrish flips Annalise’s urn over, dumping her ashes onto the Nemeton. Through the cracks his sister falls and as Nolan watches what remained of his sister slip through a stump he notices that the woods are completely silent. No crickets, no cicadas, no wind.

Nothing.

Complete silence.

The Nemeton starts buzzing louder then and from the cracks in which Annalise’s ashes had just slipped through come fireflies. One, then two, then a hundred.

A thousand.

Nolan can’t even begin to guess how many fireflies have shot up from the stump in the ground. There are so many of them. Countless fireflies, all floating in the air around Nolan, Parrish, and the Nemeton.

“Do you hear that?” Parrish asks, breaking the silence.

Nolan shakes his head no.

“It’s Lydia,” the man says with a smile, revealing sharp teeth, “she’s screaming for you. You, Lydia, and I – we’re all connected. Et nos unum sumus.”

“We are one,” Nolan translates, his voice nearly undetectable.

The fireflies swarm Nolan and just before everything goes black, Nolan distinctly hears Lydia screaming his name.

\------- 


	45. Runnin' With the Devil (5x09)

Camilla shakes her hands out as she listens to her introduction on stage. She’s back at Joe’s and she’s actually nervous

To herself, she says, “You know, I don’t really get why people shake their hands out before a performance. It does nothing. Hands don’t even have anything to do with singing… Idiots.”

After her mini rant ends and she hears her name echo across the bar.

“Singing _You Don’t Own Me_ … Camilla Argent!”

She scoots out onto stage and is met with applause. She can’t help but smile.

“It’s good to be back,” she speaks into the microphone as the music begins.

Camilla pours her heart into the song, the lyrics resonating deep within her. No one owns her.

Once she finishes, she is met with even more applause and her heart warms up. She takes a small curtsey and walks off the stage. She heads over to her favorite table and playfully collapses into her chair.

“That was amazing, babe,” Isaac congratulates her, taking her hand into his own and planting a small kiss on it.

“Thanks,” she says to him. “It’s hard to believe we were just at my best friend’s sister’s funeral a few hours ago.”

“Let’s not talk about that. That was earlier, but right now… Right now we’re talking about you and how no one owns you,” he flirts, his eyes twinkling in the dim bar lights.

“Damn straight,” she responds, leaning forward to give Isaac a quick kiss on the lips.

When the two pull away, Isaac looks into his girlfriend’s eyes with a more serious look.

“But for me, however… Camilla, you own me, you own my heart.”

Camilla blushes, not too noticeably, but she still feels more than the usual heat in her cheeks.

“And with that being said, if you’ll allow me… I submitted an application for USF and was on the waitlist for a while, but I just found out that I got in… I am, without a doubt, head over heels in love with you, and so I want to come with you. There’s nowhere else I want to be, no one else I want to be with… What do you say?”

Camilla chuckles and pulls Isaac close to her, her hands on either side of his face.

“Do you really have to ask? Of course I want you there. I want you always.”

The two meet in the middle for another, more passionate kiss.

“I’m getting us more drinks, to celebrate,” Camilla states when the kiss ends, standing up from the table to head toward the bar. “Thank God classes this week aren’t mandatory until Friday for finals.”

Isaac nods and smiles as he watches his girl walk away. He takes a peek at his phone and that smile disappears. Missed calls from Scott, Stiles, almost everyone.

The curly-haired boy glances back at Camilla, making sure she is still occupied at the bar. When he’s sure she isn’t paying any attention, he pulls up Scott’s contact ID on his phone and hits the call button.

The Alpha is quick to answer, his voice husky.

“Anything yet?” Isaac says softly, his eyes glued on Camilla.

“No, nothing. Allison and I are going to head to her place to look at the Bestiary, see if there’s maybe something in there… Lydia’s still out near the woods. I don’t know about Stiles and Jackson. But no one can seem to find Nolan anywhere…”

Isaac grimaces, “I really hope it’s just a tequila mishap and he wakes up in a hotel bathtub tomorrow morning with no idea of how he got there… Camilla still has no idea, and I think it’s better that way. So unless you really need us, try and keep her out of it, okay? I’m still uneasy with it still being her first full moon and all.”

“You got it,” Scott says before hanging up the phone. Isaac tucks his own into one of his back pockets just as Camilla returns to the table, drinks in her hands.

“Amaretto for me, whiskey for you,” she cheers, setting them down on the table. Her brows furrow as she looks at Isaac, “Everything okay?”

Isaac clears his throat and throws on a smile, “Of course, babe. Everything is okay.”

And as he says those words, he hopes with all his might that they are actually true.

_**TEEN WOLF** _

The door to Allison’s apartment flies open as she and Scott rush into the entryway, running down the narrow hall to her bedroom in search of her laptop and the USB that contains the Bestiary.

“We don’t even know what we’re looking for,” Scott says as the couple enter the girl’s room and the light flies on, “aren’t there like… hundreds of different types of demons in that thing?”

“Yes,” Allison admits as she flips her computer open, “but this is the best shot we’ve got at figuring out where Nolan is.”

The girl is typing her password in and messes up, putting in a ‘y’ where there ought to have been a ‘t.’ She curses herself for being so butterfingered, thinking about how angry her mother would be if she could see her fumbling around like an inexperienced little girl.

“Allison,” she hears, knowing instantly it wasn’t Scott speaking her head going up to look at her door.

“Did you hear that?” the huntress asks cautiously, stopping her typing for a moment.

“It sounded like your…” Scott trails off just as a tall, muscular man steps into the well-lit room.

Standing before them now is Chris Argent, Allison’s father – a man who had given up his own life so that his daughter could live, “Allison,” he says again, a smile spreading across his bearded face.

“Dad?” the dark haired girl chokes out, tears instantly stinging her eyes, “D-daddy?”

“Allison, I…” the man begins just as the lights flicker, “I… I love you….” The girl hears as the lights go completely dead, leaving her and Scott standing in absolute darkness before they slowly flicker back on.

Allison stands in front of her desk still in shock, her father now gone, she turns around to face Scott as a tear slides down her cheek and she asks, “Did that really just happen?”

Shocked and confused, Scott nods as he notices a firefly buzzing in the air where Allison’s father had just stood.

\-------

Francesca’s screams, bloodcurdling and desperate, fill the night, causing Derek and Erica to jump from their shared bed, no hesitation, nothing running through their minds other than their child.

Derek is the first to reach his daughter’s room and when he does he stops dead in his tracks. No longer is Francesca wailing, but laughing and cooing, her tiny fist curled around a stranger’s pointer finger.

“Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Erica says in a hushed voice, frozen in the doorway next to Derek. The man nods, his mouth hanging open.

“Mom?”

The woman turns her face towards the frightened parents, a soft smile on her face.

“It’s about time you guys saw me. I’ve been here nearly every night and yet this little girl is the only one who can see me,” Talia Hale speaks to her son and his girlfriend.

Stepping into the room cautiously, Derek replies, “Whoever you are, get away from my daughter.”

Talia chuckles and does as Derek asks.

“I get it, you’re worried. Your dead mother appears in your room and your first instinct probably isn’t to run into her arms,” she shrugs. She turns to look more clearly at Erica and smiles. “Erica, it’s nice to meet you. You’re doing a great job taking care of my kid. Plus your genes made my granddaughter absolutely gorgeous. But I guess I have them to thank for that.”

With her last words, Talia jerks a thumb over her shoulder, gesturing to a darkened corner of the room.

Erica’s brow furrows, “Them… Who?” she asks right as two more people step out of the shadows.

Erica’s parents beam at their daughter, their arms around each other.

“Erica, sweetie, it’s been so long,” her mother speaks, tears clogging her throat.

Shaking her head, the blonde says, “No, this can’t be real. Derek, what’s going on?”

“Oh calm down,” A voice interjects from behind Derek and Erica in the hallway, forcing the two to jump and move further into the room. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Erica quickly walks over to Francesca’s crib and grabs her, holding the infant against her chest protectively.

The voice turns out to be Peter Hale, with the infamous smirk on his face.

“Like your mom said, we’re always here, you guys just can’t see us. Now, it might be the full moon or something else, but for some reason, everyone can see us now.”

Derek and Erica don’t respond, not knowing what to say.

Talia talks instead, “Look, this is probably crazy, but it’s us. We don’t know how or why, but here we are.”

Erica looks at her parents, her worried face full of pain.

“It’s really us, sweetie,” her father says. “And we’re so proud of who you’ve become. Francesca is beautiful.”

“But you guys—“ she starts.

Her mother steps forward, “Shh, Erica, don’t. We know now. Everything. Why we had to go, why you were gone, what you and Derek and Francesca are. You learn a lot when your soul leaves your body.”

“I just don’t—“

“You don’t have to say anything,” her father assures her. Slowly, the couple steps forward and embraces their daughter and granddaughter. Erica can feel their arms on her, but it doesn’t feel like it used to.

Derek keeps his eyes glued to the four of them, still wary. But soon, they break apart and he can see Erica’s cheeks shiny from tears.

Before anyone else says anything, another person joins the group.

“Sorry to interrupt this loving moment, but Peter, I’m going to kill you,” Cora warns, her figure appearing from another corner of the room.

The smile on his face is struck, “You know I’m dead, right?”

She shakes her head and clacks her tongue, “And so am I, because of you. But for some reason we can physically touch things… So without further ado…”

In a flash, Cora lunges for her murderous uncle, but before she can reach him, and as Derek pulls his family close into him for protection, everyone, but the alive ones, disappear. In their place… fireflies.

The bugs zoom around the room before leaving entirely, and the three are left in a huddle of confusion, though Francesca has already fallen back asleep in her mother’s arms.

“Was that real? Did that really just happen?” Erica stammers.

“I have no answers for either of those questions,” Derek states truthfully.

_\-------_

He opens his eyes suddenly. In his position he is laying down and he quickly realizes that he’s laying down in something sticky and cold, he notices now the white tile walls all around him and the overwhelmingly bright fluorescent lights in the room.

He’s in a tub.

A tub that he now notices has small speckles of blood all over it.

With a sudden jolt the boy has himself sitting up in the tub, he looks down and sees that his Doc Martens are caked with dirt and twigs and… dead fireflies. His eyes travel around the room, looking for another distinguishing feature besides fluorescent lights and white tile when he spots a robe hanging on the back of the door with _NEXUS HOTEL_ embroidered ornately on the left breast.

A hotel bathtub?

Putting his hand on the blood speckled edge of the tub the boy pushes himself up and steps out of the tub and walks over to the counter and the mirror – taking in his appearance.

Nolan Hayes looks affright. His face is smeared with dirt and there’s a long, thin cut on the right side of his forehead, there are leaves and pine needles in his hair which is matted to his head with a combination of sweat and mud. His green sweater has soot all over it and there’s blood all down the front of it – blood that had fallen, and dried, from his nose.

Nolan turns around and faces the door, the shiny silver handle seeming eerily shiny in the light of the bathroom. It was like a dream, reaching forward to wrap his hand around that handle to step into a world unknown.

“Through the looking glass,” Nolan whispers, his voice hoarse.

The door swings open and the first thing Nolan sees is golden carpet, a startling contrast to the white tile of the bathroom. Stepping forward, his feet sinking into the incredibly lush carpet, Nolan takes a corner and peeks into what is clearly a bedroom and sees a California King-sized bed with two occupants.

A shirtless and charred Parrish, the thin white sheet over his lower half leaving very little to the imagination and…

“Lydia?” Nolan yelps, covering his mouth with his hand in regret as soon as the name had left his mouth.

The red haired girl slowly shifts around on the bed, her body over the covers. As her eyes flicker over, Nolan can clearly see confusion setting into her expression and then instantly she’s flinging herself out of the bed, her wedges making a sort of squishing sound as the land on the golden carpet. Lydia hurries over to her friend, her eyes wide, asking, “What the hell?”

“I was wondering the same thing,” Nolan whispers, “what are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here? What are _you_ doing here?”

“Why were you in bed with him? Naked him. Very naked, very muscular, very Disney-Prince handsome him?”

“Why are you dirty? You look like you just crawled out from the depths of hell,” Lydia comments as she reaches up and pulls a leaf out of her friend’s auburn hair.

“I don’t remember… or I don’t think I remember? No, no I definitely don’t remember. I feel like Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones used that little flash thingy and wiped my memories clean,” Nolan sighs, “but, we need to focus on us… ya know, getting out of here. Away from Naked Man.”

“Naked Man can hear you,” Parrish says, still lying on the bed with his eyes shut, “he’s got better hearing than most the werewolves you know.”

“He’s a werewolf?” Lydia asks tensely.

“I don’t think so…” Nolan trails.

“I’m a Hellhound,” the man in question responds, his eyes opening, “and I gotta say, I’ve never really met a banshee before, Lydia, but your scream is even… shriller than what I was told. You didn’t mention her scream was so shrill, Nolan.”

“You told him about me?” Lydia frowns, slapping Nolan’s arm.

“Ow, no I didn’t. He just… he knew a lot about us. The supernatural, but banshees and demons specifically,” Nolan informs her, “he… he told me all this stuff last night at the… the Nemeton. We were at the Nemeton and he had Annalise’s ashes and…”

“…and you got your powers,” Parrish smiles, “and it’s about damn time ya did.”

“Powers? What powers?” Lydia asks, when suddenly there’s a flash – a memory – and Lydia remembers screaming. Screaming Nolan’s name and running through the woods into a clearing full of fireflies – of people.

“My… powers,” Nolan says, “powers. Powers? Powers. We’re talking powers, plural here? More than one? A plethora of powers?”

“I’d say you may very well be the most powerful creature to ever walk the earth,” Parrish explains as he gets out of bed, exposing himself to Lydia and Nolan, evoking gasps and red faces from the two teenagers, “and don’t worry – when I carried you in last night, with Lydia trailing me in her little banshee trance, I was fully clothed. Not like the people at the front desk would’ve even noticed me running through the lobby naked – it’s Beacon Hills, they have to be used to seeing weird stuff.”

“Would you p-please, _please_ put on some goddamn pants,” Nolan says his hands covering his eyes.

“If you’re not going to murder us,” Lydia says, watching a little too intently as the man bends over and grabs a pair of discarded Levi’s, “I think Nolan and I better be going. Our friends, our _pack_ is going to be looking for us. In fact, they are already. Looking for Nolan, anyway, and they’ll be looking for me if they think I’m missing too.”

“They think I’m missing?” Nolan asks.

“You disappeared in the middle of your sister’s wake, they think _something_ happened.”

Parrish laughs, “Teenage werewolves… such a dramatic bunch.”

\-------

“Sheriff Donna Lamb?” the man asks as he steps into the woman’s office, pulling his badge out of his jacket pocket, “I’m Agent McCall. I’m with the FBI… we have an appointment.”

The blonde woman nods her head and stands up, taking the Agent’s hand in her own to shake it firmly, “Agent McCall. Nice to meet you. Your message was a bit ominous, I have to admit. It isn’t every day the FBI rolls into the department asking to have a one on one meeting with me – can I get you anything? Coffee? Coffee cake?”

“No, thanks,” Rafael says with a smile as he takes a seat across from her, “ya know, Sheriff, you’ve been doing one hell of a job since you took office. Bringing down Spencer Seeley a man who’s been on the Most Wanted List for two years now… that’s some impressive work. The FBI is very, very impressed by you.”

“Just doing my job, Agent McCall,” Donna replies, doing her best to sound humble before she starts to gloat, “It’s my duty to keep Beacon Hills safe. My predecessor, Sheriff Stilinski, he was pretty quick to just sweep things under the rug. To focus on the little problems – noise complaints, traffic violations, but for me… well, I was focused on the big one. And Spencer Seeley was about as big as they get.”

“Yes, well, Sheriff Stilinski’s abilities aren’t really for you to judge, Sheriff… but, let’s not talk about John. Let’s talk about you. Your future.”

“My future?”

“How would you feel about becoming a member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation?” Rafael asks.

“A-are you joking?” Donna asks, clearly shocked by the man’s proposal.

“Donna, you brought down a man who had killed nearly twenty people – a man who had absolutely no MO. Age, gender, profession, race, murder weapon… it didn’t matter to him, that’s why we couldn’t catch him. There was not a single profiler who could pinpoint what made that son of a bitch tick – but it took him stepping onto your turf for him to be brought to justice,” Rafael smiles, “now, I’m hardly a man who believes in magic. But that’s pretty goddamn magical to me.”

“So you’re asking me to…”

“I’m asking you to step down as Sheriff of Beacon Hills and become a member of the FBI, yes.”

Donna runs her hands through her blonde hair, “And this is serious?”

“As a heart attack.”

“What about Beacon Hills? Who’s going to become Sheriff if I’m not…”

“Now that’s up to you – to name your new Sheriff, but Donna.. I’m going to need an answer. Would you like to be an FBI Agent?”

\-------

Stiles feels something wet on his face.

Very wet.

Oddly wet.

It smells like dog food.

The boy opens his brown eyes and gasps as he sees Nolan’s dog Jane Fonda panting over him, getting ready to lick his face again. Pushing the golden retriever away, he sits up on the floor and sees Jackson sleeping on the couch, without a moment of hesitation, Stiles picks up a squeaky, orange football and chucks it at the sleeping.

The werewolf snaps up and asks, “Nolan?”

“He isn’t here,” Stiles replies, “but his dog is and I’d imagine his cat is too – hey, why is Nolan such an animal lover? I mean… even his boyfriend is a little, er, animalistic if you will.”

“Bite me, Stilinski,” Jackson says, rolling his eyes, “have you heard from Lydia?”

“I have not, but she told me she had the woods covered last night and that if anything bad started coming for her she would text me 912 – that’s our special little supernatural emergency code.”

Suddenly the doorbell is ringing. Ringing loudly.

“That could be him,” Jackson says, springing up from the couch and rushing to the front door. Pulling it open, with Stiles close behind him, the two boys see a man bearing an incredible resemblance to Nolan on the other side.

“Jackson… my son hasn’t broken up with you yet?” the man chuckles.

“Is that…” Stiles begins.

“Mr. Hayes... what are you doing here?”

\-------

Lydia’s wedges clomp against the hard hallway outside of Isaac’s loft. Nolan’s softer footsteps sound right behind her.

“Remember, no mention of Parrish or being in his hotel or me and him in the same bed, nothing,” she reminds the boy as the get farther from the elevator and closer to Isaac’s door.

“We’re going to tell them eventually, right?” Nolan inquires, a bit uneasy. “I can’t lie to them. Especially not Camilla or Jackson.”

Lydia whips around, the tresses of her hair lightly smacking her face before falling back down below her shoulders.

“We’re not lying; we’re simply leaving some of the truth out of the equation until we figure out what it means. We don’t need our friends pounding down Parrish’s door with pitchforks and sticks of fire demanding he leave town. We’ll tell them when it’s the right time,” she says matter-of-factly, righting her posture and turning back around.

“Okay, that sounded vaguely like a scene from _Shrek_ , but yeah I get it. I just want to make it clear that I’m not a fan,” Nolan shrugs.

“You don’t like _Shrek?”_ Lydia questions as they reach the door.

Rolling his eyes, Nolan replies, “You know what I meant.”

Jackson is the one to answer the door and he immediately pulls Nolan into an embrace, “Nolan, good God, you had us worried. What the hell happened?”

Nolan snorts and Lydia smacks his side slyly, so Jackson doesn’t notice.

“Why don’t you let us get inside and take a seat before you grill us, huh?” Lydia scolds, pushing her way into the loft.

Jackson shoots a questioning look at Nolan who gives him a “sorry” smile.

The group settles in and Camilla pats a seat next to her for Nolan, who happily obliges.

“Good to see ya, pal. I’d be more excited to see you, but I didn’t even know you were missing because of SOMEONE,” Camilla lets her friend know, her eyes landing on Isaac’s as she says the last few words of the sentence.

“It’s okay, I’m okay. Everyone can stop freaking out now,” Nolan announces, folding his arms across his chest.

“Can we though? I mean let’s add you going missing to the stress of finals being tomorrow adding to the fact that we’re freaking graduating and whatnot. Yeah, everything’s fine,” Stiles responds, the sarcasm heavy.

Lydia pats her boyfriend’s arm and says, “You’ll survive.”

Stiles, like Nolan, folds his own arms across his chest and pouts.

“I think what Stiles meant,” Scott speaks up, “is that we’re glad you’re okay Nolan. But we want to know what happened. Why did we see the ghosts of our families last night?”

Nolan groans, “If I knew, I’d tell ya. Trust me. I wish I could tell you everything.” Lydia narrows her eyes at the boy who gulps and adds on, “But I don’t know everything. I know nothing, at the moment.”

“Do we think The Root is back?” Erica asks, joining the group, a burp rag resting on her shoulder. She spots people staring at it and tosses it away. “Sorry, I just fed and put Fran down for a nap.”

Scott shakes his head, “I don’t think it’s him. Those people were already dead, and they’re, well, dead again. They were only here for a few minutes and then they turned into fireflies. That doesn’t sound like The Root to me.”

“Plus I checked with the sheriff station and hospital and there weren’t any deaths last night, miraculously,” Stiles jumps in.

“Let’s not forget Nolan is involved. He goes AWOL and then all of the sudden the dead are alive. Maybe The Root is using him some way?” Jackson offers up.

Camilla interjects, “But again, no one is dead, and they weren’t here for long. It just doesn’t add up. Nolan, what do you remember from last night?”

The boy sighs, “Nothing, really. I was walking, and I saw what you guys are saying was the Nemeton, and I heard Lydia scream and then… nothing.”

“So basically we have nothing,” Derek sums it up.

“Hey Mr. Dark and Mysterious and Rude, Nolan can’t help it. It’s not like we can access his mind and dig it out,” Camilla defends her friend.

“But we can,” Isaac replies, his eyes lighting up. He begins to pace the room. “Peter, he did it to me. It’s called memory transference. Werewolves can give or take people’s memories by shoving their claws into a person’s neck.”

Jackson stands up, “No way, no one’s shoving anything into Nolan.”

“Not like you don’t already,” Stiles mumbles.

“What was that, Stilinski?” Jackson growls, moving closer to the boy.

“Jackson, relax, nobody is saying we’re going to do anything to Nolan. It was just a suggestion,” Lydia attempts to disengage the situation.

Nolan, too, stands up, “No. Do it. I don’t think it was a coincidence I just blacked out right as dead people could be seen again. There’s a reason the demons and demon hunters wanted me. I’m powerful. And that can be dangerous if we don’t figure it out. I’m in, let’s do it.”

“Nolan, are you sure?” Allison asks.

Jackson thrusts his hands into the air, “Scott, are we seriously considering this? As far as we know, only Peter has done this. There’s no way anyone can just claw up my boyfriend all willy-nilly.”

“Deaton might know. Send him a text, Scott,” Stiles suggests.

“Stilinski, you better shut it!” Jackson warns.

“Yo, Great Jaw of China, your boy said he wants to do it. You don’t own him,” Camilla argues, finding herself standing up as well, just like the rest of the group now.

Tensions are high and hearts are beating, but no one says a word until Scott breaks the silence.

“Nolan, are you really okay with this? Deaton just replied that we could stop by, but we’re not going to do anything you don’t want to do. This is up to you.”

Everyone looks at the boy with auburn hair, waiting for his response.

“We have to,” he admits, shrugging, not looking in Jackson’s eyes as he gives his answer.

“Alright, Nolan has it, let’s head out,” Stiles claps his hands together and moves towards the door.

\-------

Melissa comes out of the kitchen with a glass of ice tea in her hand and Maximus tailing behind her. Stepping over a discarded rawhide the woman plops herself down on the couch and picks up _My Sister’s Keeper_ again, ready to dive right back into reading.

“Since when are you a bookworm?” a familiar voice asks from the doorway, the woman looks over her shoulder and sees Rafael leaning casually against the wall with a smirk on his face.

“Since I joined a book club. I’m about to be an empty nester, and while being a fulltime nurse does take up a lot of my time it’s literature that keeps the mind sharp,” Melissa remarks, “where have you been all day? You were gone before I got up.”

“I was at the Sheriff’s Department offering Donna Lamb a position with the FBI,” the man replies as he fully enters the room. He pats Maximus on the head, making the dogs tail wag at rocket speed.

“Excuse me? You offered Donna Lamb, a woman who scored a 12 on the ACT, a job with the FBI? The government program?”

“She absolutely did not get a 12 on the ACT, Melissa. I think that’s what many literary people would describe as hyperbole.”

“Donna Lamb is incompetent.”

“Donna Lamb brought down a serial killer that even the FBI couldn’t catch. That’s quite the level of incompetency she’s got.”

“There was an explosion at the JavaPit last fall… a suspicious explosion that she didn’t even dream of looking into,” Melissa reveals, “remember JavaPit, Raf? They had the best German Chocolate Cake and now all that remains is a whole lot of ash.”

“The JavaPit was older than this town,” Rafael laughs, “the only thing suspicious about that explosion was that it took as long as it did for that gas line to finally burst. Honestly, Melissa, are you sure that Donna is incompetent or are you just a little bitter that she’s doing – did – a better job at being Sheriff than your boyfriend did?”

“This has nothing to do with John.”

“Oh yeah? He lives here doesn’t he?”

Melissa dog-ears the page of her book, “What makes you say that?”

“Scott and I talk, M. A lot more than we used to – and by a lot more I mean we text every day and we call each other at least once a week. You think our son wouldn’t clue me in on his mother’s live in boyfriend? A boyfriend who happens to be the father of his best friend?”

“He’s chatty, that son of ours.”

“Yes he is.”

Melissa frowns, “He gets that from you.”

“Yeah,” Rafael laughs, “I’m the chatty one between the two of us.”

“So if Donna isn’t Sheriff anymore who is? Another incompetent clown?”

“She mentioned something about offering the job to a Ben… something or other. I didn’t really listen, after she accepted the FBI gig I tuned out. Donna Lamb, now she’s chatty. She would give you a run for Chattiest Woman of the World.”

Melissa throws a pillow at the man and laughs, “Shut up.”

“You happy? Stilinski making you happy?” the man asks, catching the pillow with ease.

The curly haired woman bites her lip, “Yeah… yeah he makes me happy.”

“Good,” Rafael smiles, “good, you deserve it. I wasn’t – I wanted… I wanted so badly to be that guy for you, Melissa. To make you happy, but… my drinking and then when I sobered up the Bureau… I just – I’m sorry I couldn’t be that guy for you – and I’m glad you finally found it. I’m glad you found your guy.”

“I’m glad I did too,” Melissa smiles.

“So you can tell him to stop hiding out just because I’m in town. This house is big enough for the two of us. I promise I won’t go marking my territory – I’ll leave that for Maximus.”

Melissa shakes her head – in that moment feeling the happiest she’d been in a long time.

\-------

“Malia?” Ben calls out, flicking on a hallway light as he enters through his door.

“In here, babe!” she yells back, her voice coming from their bedroom.

Ben sets his jacket and briefcase on the chair that sits in the foyer, his hands a bit shaky as he does. Sliding off his shoes, he looks at himself in the mirror. He smiles and shakes his head.

The man takes happy steps further into his apartment and reaches the bedroom where he spots Malia painting her toenails on their bed.

“Good evening, beautiful,” he smiles broadly at his girlfriend, leaning against the doorjamb.

“Hey, honey,” she coos back as she looks up at him. “You’re awfully chipper. No murders today?”

“The only thing that died today was my working relationship with Donna Lamb,” he tells her, the words sounding odd as he actually spoke them.

Malia cocks her head, “I’m confused…”

Ben shakes his head and chuckles. He walks to the side of the bed and grabs the nail polish from Malia’s hand, setting it on the nightstand. He sits on the bed next to her and grabs her hands.

“Ben, what’s going on?” she asks, curious and almost worried.

“Well, the FBI offered Donna a position,” he reveals.

Malia nods coolly, “That’s great. I know you didn’t like her, but damn, you seem really happy. Did you guys have to burn some ‘evidence’ today?” She makes the gesture of smoking a joint.

Ben laughs, “No, no. None of that. But since she took the job, they made me Sheriff.”

Malia stops her silly gesture and her face freezes, “Sheriff?”

“Sheriff,” Ben confirms with a nod.

“Oh my God, Ben!” she squeals. “That’s amazing!” The brunette wraps her arms around the man’s neck and pulls him in for a kiss. “I am so proud of you and so happy for you. You deserve this, you really do.”

“Thanks, babe.”

Malia shakes her head in amazement, looking into Ben’s eyes.

“Not only that, babe, but Beacon Hills deserves a Sheriff like you. They need you. You might just change this town.”

Ben smiles, “That’s the plan.”

\-------

Deaton walks into the back room seeing Scott, Allison, Stiles, Isaac, Camilla, Nolan, Lydia and Jackson standing around solemnly. Nolan is sitting in a metal chair and Scott is standing behind him – the auburn haired boy looks nauseous, Deaton notes, as he takes his eyes off of Nolan and places them onto Scott.

“So, how do we do this?” Scott asks.

“Am I the only one having second thoughts about this?” Jackson asks, “Scott shoving his claws into Nolan’s neck and yanking out his memories… that isn’t a big fat red flag to anyone besides me?”

Camilla taps her foot against the floor, “I will admit, I would feel more confident about this if it weren’t Scott’s first time. I don’t like Nolan being used as the test dummy – no offense, Nolan.”

“Oh, no, I’m definitely a dummy,” the boy in the chair chuckles.

“Scott, you look nervous,” Deaton comments.

“Yeah, well…” Scott trails off.

“You can’t be,” Deaton says sternly, “if you’re nervous you’ll kill him.”

“Wow. Okay, yeah, wow, I’m gonna be the knight in shining whatever right now and say STOP,” Stiles spits out, “Nolan could die? Stop living and be dead?”

“Or he could be paralyzed from the neck down,” Deaton informs the group.

“That would really put a damper on dancing it out,” Camilla comments, feeling Isaac’s arm wrap around her.

“I will be fine,” Nolan says, sounding oddly sure, “I will be. Scott is our Alpha. A True Alpha, too. He can do this. He can. I believe in him – in you, I believe in you, Scott. I believe that you won’t kill or paralyze me.”

“Thanks,” Scott says with a weak smile.

“What you’re going to need to do is go in hard and fast, trying your best to get in between each of the vertebrae in Nolan’s neck,” Deaton instructs, “once you’re in you’ll know. You’ll be seeing everything inside Nolan’s head for the last twenty-four hours – maybe even further back than that if it so pertains to the situation.”

“So you’ll be seeing the entire history of the pack’s dearly beloved gay,” Nolan smiles, “isn’t that… nifty.”

Suddenly Jackson is crouching down in front of Nolan, his hands on the boy’s legs, “You don’t have to do this. We can… we can figure out what’s going on with you another way. A safer way. A less paralytic way.”

Nolan lifts a hand and places it on Jackson’s cheek, “I will be fine.”

“Nolan…” Jackson begins, being cut off when Nolan connects their lips, pulling away and smiling.

“Wish us luck. Scott, let’s shake a leg.”

Jackson feels a hand on his shoulder then, he turns around to see Camilla standing close behind him, a soft smile on her face, “He’s going to be fine. He’s our person. He has to be.”

“Remember, hard and fast,” Deaton reminds.

Scott nods, and looks down at Nolan sharing a worried smile with the boy before Nolan looks ahead, takes a deep breath and shuts his eyes. Scott shakes his claws out and pulls his arm back – Camilla buries her head into Isaac’s shoulder too afraid to watch, Stiles and Lydia are both staring worriedly at the ground, Jackson looks angry, and Allison… Allison anchors him. Looking into the girl’s shining brown eyes, Scott loses all feelings of uncertainty. He suddenly believes in himself, believes he can do it.

The Alpha slams his claws into Nolan’s neck, the boy in the chair choking on a scream in the process.

It was like being underwater. Everything seemed to have a watery filter around it, but Scott knew that this was right. He was in.

He was in Nolan’s memories.

They’re in the woods – and it’s dark. Darker than Scott’s ever seen.

Nolan is following someone, a man, a tall man… a familiar man. Like someone Scott had seen once before in a dream. Scott’s on memory of the man was short, fleeting, but as Nolan’s voice rings out, Scott feels sure that he’s met the man before.

“Parrish,” Nolan yells through the night, “stop!”

Suddenly the memory progresses and Scott sees Nolan and the man, Parrish, in a clearing. A clearing Scott knew he had seen before. In the middle of this clearing, humming, is the Nemeton.

“I’m a Hellhound. I know more than you might think and I have many jobs. I do the bidding of the demons,” Parrish explains right before he dumps what Scott can only assume are Annalise Hayes’ ashes onto the Nemeton.

Fireflies are everywhere then, buzzing… swarming… and as they get closer to Nolan something strange happens – they transform. They become people.

Jennifer Blake is standing before Nolan, looking at her hands in awe, “What… what the hell?” the former English teacher asks.

Ethan and Aiden are looking around the clearing laughing and hugging, “We’re back, baby! We’re back!” Ethan laughs.

People Scott has never seen before, old women and little girls, grandpas and teenage boys, are all over the clearing – appearing in the spots that thousands of fireflies had once been. Walking around and embracing, talking, completely surprised that they’re in their human forms once again.

“You’re doing this, Nolan,” Parrish laughs as he lights on fire, “THIS IS BECAUSE OF YOU! YOUR POWERS!”

There’s a screaming behind them and as Scott turns around he spots Lydia, her eyes are blank, but her mouth is fallen open and she’s screaming. Screaming so loudly that Scott can barely take it – it’s so, so loud. Nolan’s falling to the ground then, collapsing, blood dripping out from his ears and his nose. The boy is convulsing on the ground and Scott rushes down to help him, when Nolan’s eyes shoot open – glowing purple.

It’s white.

All white.

Everything is white.

Scott’s been here before. He knows he has.

It’s white.

It’s quiet.

Scott looks around and he sees Nolan dressed all in white with glowing purple eyes, laying on top of the only thing in the enormous, immensely white room – the Nemeton.

“I can feel it,” Nolan whispers as Scott approaches him, “I can feel the power… it’s… all mine.”

“The power?”

“I can do anything,” Nolan laughs, “anything I want. I’ve got the power.”

“Nolan…”

“I can do anything,” Nolan says again, not sitting up or moving in the slightest. Scott realizes now that Nolan’s mouth isn’t moving at all – the entire conversation the two are having is telepathic.

There’s a rumbling then, the white room is shaking and Scott notices that the floor is shattering. He turns around quickly and sees himself, Stiles, and Allison shooting up and out of their ice baths from what feels like eons ago.

This is no longer Nolan’s memory – it’s his.

“He did this,” Nolan says inside of Scott’s head, “Parrish did this. He woke me up.”

They’re back in the Animal clinic then. Scott withdraws his claws from Nolan’s neck, the boy in the chair’s eyes open and his hand instinctively goes up to his neck to cover the line of puncture marks Scott had just made.

Deaton puts his hand on Scott’s shoulder and asks, “What did you see?”

“I… I’m not sure,” Scott answers, reaching up when he feels blood begin to dribble out of his nose, “Nolan what was…?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Nolan replies, as Jackson and Camilla come forward, helping the boy up and out of his seat – Camilla handing her friend a rag to help stop the bleeding at the back of his neck.

“Parrish. Jordan Parrish,” Scott says coolly, “we need to find him. He can tell us everything.”

“Parrish? Who’s that?” Allison asks, her confused tone matching the looks of confusion on most everyone’s face.

“I think I’m the guy you’re looking for,” a voice says from the other end of the room. Everybody’s eyes fall onto Parrish, who leans against the door in a crisp, navy blue shirt.

“Oh boy,” Nolan says under his breath as he holds the rag against his neck.

“Hey Nolan, Lydia,” Parrish nods at the two coolly, stepping into the room.

“Who the hell are you?” Jackson asks aggressively.

“Yeah, who are you?” Camilla repeats, intrigued.

“I’m Jordan Parrish, and I’m Nolan’s Hellhound,” he answers.

“Okay, well, welcome!” Camilla shrugs.

Scott, with his nose still bleeding, speaks up next, “Hellhound?”

Without warning, Parrish strips his shirt off, earning a gasp from Camilla and Stiles, who gets a weird look from Lydia.

“Instead of me going on about all that, I can just show you. Take my memories like you did Nolan’s, and I’ll give you the answers to questions you don’t even have yet,” he offers, edging closer to the group.

“Can you tell us Nolan’s powers?” Lydia asks, her face hard.

“Yeah, and I could have this morning, too, but you guys were in such a hurry…”

Stiles jerks his head to look at Lydia just as Jackson turns to Nolan.

“This morning?” they say simultaneously. Parrish can’t help but smirk.

“Let’s not worry about the weird threesome they probably had, let’s get some info, people,” Camilla redirects their attention to the real problem at hand. “Jordan, take a seat here.” She steps behind an empty chair and waggles her eyebrows.

Isaac shakes his head at his girlfriend but doesn’t say anything, knowing he’s still in trouble for lying to her.

Parrish takes confident strides toward the chair and sits, nodding at Camilla in thanks for offering it to him.

“Let’s do this then,” Parrish says to Scott, who sighs and moves toward the man.

“Lydia, what did he mean about this morning?” Stiles asks in a hushed voice as they crowd around Parrish.

“Hush,” she warns.

Scott pulls out his claws, holding them above Parrish’s neck. He looks around at the group before digging in.

Parrish’s face barely cringes as Scott’s claws plunge into his flesh. Everyone watches as Scott’s expression changes from moment to moment. No one knows what he sees but him and the Hellhound in the chair. After a few minutes, Scott pulls out of the man’s neck, breathing heavy.

Allison goes to his side, holding the werewolf up in a rare moment where he needed to be.

“Scott, what did you see?” she asks him, pushing sweaty strands of hair off of her boyfriend’s forehead.

Taking a moment to catch his breath, with fear in his eyes, Scott reveals to the group, “I saw hell. I saw what Nolan is… what he can be. And it’s bigger than anything we’ve ever seen.”

\-------


	46. Please Don't Leave Quite Yet (5x10)

Nolan and Camilla slowly make their way to each other, both coming from different sides of the school, both with bright smiles on their faces. When they finally come within a few feet of each other, they sigh.

"It's over," Camilla states, relief coating her words.

"We have officially taken the last final of our high school careers," Nolan adds, his disbelief evident. "What are we going to do with our lives?"

Camilla shrugs, turning her body ever so slightly so that she could reach the dial on her locker, opening it for the last time.

"I'm assuming we'll be getting drunk a lot this summer, having sex with our boyfriends, and trying to keep you from turning into a maniac half-demon that wants to damn the world," the brunette responds as she unzips her backpack and begins shoving in the contents of her locker.

Rolling his eyes whilst simultaneously checking to see if anyone else was in earshot, Nolan scoffs at his friend, "Can we just ignore everything that happened last night please? I'm honestly flabbergasted I managed to pass my finals today. I got in absolutely no studying after Parrish's fun little revelation."

Camilla snorts, "Like you needed to study, Mr. Smarty Pants. You already know you're salutatorian, you've had that in the bag since the end of junior year. I'm pretty sure even if you failed all of your finals you would still be second in the class."

"You know that's not true, Camilla, but I appreciate the compliment that was hidden in there," Nolan tells her, smiling as he moved over to his own locker. There wasn't much left in it, but he would've felt wrong to not open it one more time.

"Besides," he continues, grabbing his half-empty pack of Orbit, "official GPA's don't come out until later tonight, so at this current moment, we cannot officially conclude that I'm number two to Lydia's number one."

"Shut up, number two," Camilla retorts, giving her locker one last up and down before shutting the door. "Well, I guess I'm all done here."

"One last kiss in the hallway?" a voice calls from further down the hallway. Both Camilla and Nolan turn and spot Isaac making his way over to the pair. He slides an arm around Camilla and plops a kiss on her lips without waiting for an answer.

"I'd kiss you anywhere, Lahey," the girl tells him, resting her head against his shoulder. Within seconds they hear footsteps coming from the other way and Jackson appears.

"Well guys, we're done!" he cheers, leaning in to give Nolan a quick peck on the cheek.

"Be careful with that jaw around Nolan, we can't have the second-best student have gashes on his face before the ceremony," Camilla says with a smirk on her face.

Jackson shakes his head, "You know, I'm in such a good mood right now that doesn't even bother me."

"Well I've got plenty more so don't worry."

Nolan shuts his locker, the action resonating within him; everything is about to change.

"Ready to go?" Jackson asks. Nolan turns to look at him, and things suddenly felt okay.

"Yeah, I think I am."

With that, the four friends walked toward the front doors of the school, crossing the threshold for their final time.

Standing right outside of the doors, they look at each other.

"See you guys later?" Nolan asks, taking Jackson's hand.

"You'll never get rid of us," Camilla answers as she turns to head over to Isaac's car. "Goodbye, high school!" she yells, raising her arms in the air, one step closer to leaving Beacon Hills.

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Melissa sets the bowl of pasta down on the table before taking her seat at the head of the table. To her left are the Stilinski boys and to her right are the McCall boys and though she feels incredibly happy to have all of her boys under one roof without a shred of outward hostility… she can't help but feel nauseous over the thought of hostility breaking out at any given second.

"It all looks amazing, mom," Scott smiles, grabbing his mother's clammy hand, hoping to calm her down.

"Some top drawer cooking," Stiles adds, "the Barefoot Contessa would be proud."

"Does she still say WWBFCD?" Rafael laughs, taking a sip of his sparkling water.

"What Would the Barefoot Contessa Do is an excellent mantra, I'll have you know," Melissa giggles nervously, "and besides, it's not like you were ever Bobby Flay, Raf. In fact, if memory serves of all the men at this table you are the number one  _worst_ cook."

"She's right," Scott says, raising his eyebrows playfully, "when I was living in Richmond I was eating a lot – and I mean  _a lot_ of cold cereal. Breakfast, lunch, dinner… it was Mini Wheats or bust at Dad's place."

"I thought we agreed to keep the sheet over your mother's eyes on that one," Rafael says as he nudges his son.

"Hey, I'm no better," the older Stilinski man butts in, "back when it was just Stiles and me I can't really think of a single night we didn't end up eating take out in the squad car."

"Those were the days," Stiles says as he scoops some of the fettucine alfredo onto his plate.

"And one day we'll be doing it in your squad car," Stiles' dad beams.

"I heard you were going to the academy," Rafael says, "good for you."

"Thank you…" Stiles replies cautiously.

Melissa swallows hard, "God, ya know, I am just… deliriously happy right now."

"Why's that?" Stiles asks as he shoves a forkful of pasta into his mouth.

"All my boys are here," Melissa smiles, a little too intensely, "and I know I may not look it because that vein in my forehead that Scott loves to make fun of is probably getting ready to explode, but I am very… very happy. You all make me happy. You," she says as she grabs John's hand, "make me very, very happy."

"Good," the man says as he slowly sinks down to the floor, "because there's something I want to ask you…."

"Oh… oh my god," Stiles stammers.

"Holy crap," Scott spits out, his eyes wide.

"Uh, Melissa, can I talk to you in the hall for a second," Rafael asks, standing up abruptly, "it'll just take… half a second. A millisecond really."

"Dad, what're you doing…" Scott asks.

"Funny, I was about to ask the same question," the older Stilinski man says with a scowl.

"Raf, can it wait? Sort of seem like John wants to…" Melissa says, shooting daggers at her ex-husband.

"No it really can't wait. It can't wait at all, it's urgent. Urgently urgent. I need you, Melissa, out in the hallway. Right now. Riiiiiiight now."

Rolling her eyes, the curly haired woman stands up and says to the three other men, "We will be back so fast it'll seem like we never left at all," before she storms out of the room, Rafael trailing closely behind her.

When the two are completely out of the room Scott slams his hands against the table and asks, "Were you about to….?!"

"Yeah," the former sheriff smiles, "I'm gonna ask your mom to marry me."

\-------

"Thank God!" Camilla shouts as she pulls her apartment door open, revealing Isaac with a fresh, hot cheese pizza from her favorite restaurant. "I thought you had abandoned me, never to return, leaving me a dreary old widow to roam the halls of this empty house all alone!"

Isaac carries their dinner into the kitchen, laughing at his girlfriend.

"God, you're such a drama queen."

Camilla immediately dives into the pizza, not bothering to get a plate.

"I may have embellished a bit, but when I'm hungry I get delirious babe, you know that," she says to Isaac, her mouth full.

"Oh I know," he confirms, grabbing his own slice. "So when are your dad and Susan going to be home? I'm sure she's very upset she's not making you a 'last day of high school dinner.'"

Camilla shrugs, pulling out a chair from the kitchen table and taking a seat, "They should be here any minute, I'm assuming. Susan is making it up to me by making four different desserts for each year of high school."

"You're kidding," Isaac says, though he knew she was absolutely not kidding. Camilla just laughs and shakes her head.

The two sit in silence as they enjoy the pizza, Camilla's dramatic flair finally settling down as she feeds her hunger. Isaac realizes they don't have any napkins on the table and stands up to grab some from the holder that was on the counter.

Camilla waggles her eyebrows as he rejoins her at the table, tossing a pile of napkins her way and looking at her with curiosity twisting up the corners of his mouth.

"Either you're really turned on by this pizza or…"

"I just love those jeans on you. Your butt looks phenomenal," she sighs, fluttering her eyelashes.

"Thanks, my girlfriend got them for me," he replies casually, looking down at the faded black jeans he had on.

She shakes her head, "Damn. She must be real lucky."

Isaac leans on his elbows, pushing himself up so his body reaches across the table as he says, "Eh, she's alright," and leans in for a kiss. When they pull apart, he sits back in his chair and tells her, "Your lips taste like pizza grease."

"So do yours," she reveals. Within seconds they hear, with their amplified hearing, footsteps in the hallway.

"Daddy's here," Camilla sings, grabbing another slice of pizza from the box.

Isaac frowns playfully, "Daddy's been here, though."

Camilla widens her eyes, her mouth falling open. She crumples up her napkin and throws it at her boyfriend.

"Naughty, Lahey!" she chastises him.

"What'd he do now, pee on the carpet?" Ron says, coming into the kitchen and heading right for the pizza; like father like daughter.

"Dad, I'm a werewolf too, now, you gotta cut it out with those bad jokes," Camilla clacks her tongue at him, a little jealous that there was one less piece for her to eat. Sharing with Isaac was one thing, but she knew her dad would be back for more.

The man shrugs, setting his piece down on the table (no plate) as he sheds his sweatshirt, revealing a gray Pittsburgh Steelers shirt beneath it, "I'm a dad, it's what I do."

Susan walks in a few moments later, grocery bags in hand, her face contorted with guilt.

"Camilla, honey, I'm so sorry I wasn't here to make you your favorite meal, I just feel so darn bad. It's killing me."

The girl looks up at her stepmom and gives her a gentle smile, "Susan, please. You know how much I love Gary's Pizza, I'm more than happy to be eating it. I haven't even officially graduated yet, there's nothing to celebrate."

Susan gasps, placing her hands on her hips, "Don't say that! Of course there is plenty to celebrate! I just wish I didn't have to attend that stupid conference for work and I could've greeted you with all of your favorite foods right when you got home."

"Babe, she'll live. Plus we don't even know how well she did this year. When do you find out your GPA, Cammy?" Ron asks, finishing off his crust. Isaac hides a smile as Ron uses Camilla's least-favorite nickname, one she had had since she was little and hated more than anything.

"I think it should be up now, Ronald," she replies, adding emphasis on her father's full name, knowing he hated it just as much as she hated the nickname "Cammy."

Susan claps her hands together, gasping once again.

"Oh, you have to look now! I can't stand not knowing!" the redhead urges before turning back to put away her groceries. "Isaac, you look too!"

Isaac wipes his mouth with a napkin, ridding himself of the pizza sauce that had found a home on the corner of his mouth. When he finishes, he tells the group, "Oh, I already checked when I was waiting in line to grab the pizza. I'm number 175 out of 341."

Susan flips around and rushes over to hug Isaac, who accepts it gratefully.

"I am so proud of you!" she squeals, grabbing him even tighter. "That is so amazing, Isaac."

The boy smiles softly, proud of himself, too. He knew it could've been a lot worse if he wasn't so motivated to get into USF.

"Give some props to Camilla," he gestures towards the brunette, "she's my inspiration."

Camilla rolls her eyes, "You did all by yourself, babe. Good job."

Isaac reaches over to grab one of Camilla's hands and plants a kiss on it, "Thank you, malady."

Susan places a hand over her heart and sighs, "Oh, you two are so lovely. Aren't they lovely Ron?"

"They're a pack of lovewolves..." he chuckles, slapping his leg as he shakes with laughter from his own joke.

"That was so bad, Dad," Camilla whines, unsure of how her father could think he was even remotely funny.

Ron wipes fake tears from his eyes, "Well, I enjoyed it. Good job, Isaac. Now, look yours up, Camilla."

The girl grumbles and reaches for yet another slice of pizza, the last one. Before shoving it in her mouth she asks Isaac to look for her.

"You know my password, right?" she asks him as he pulls up their school's online gradebook where their GPA's and class ranks were listed.

"LovemesomeJG4, right?" he double-checks with a smirk, still finding Camilla's obsession with actor John Goodman hysterical.

"Forever and always," she replies, holding a fist up in the air and closing her eyes to demonstrate her loyalty to the man.

Isaac taps on his screen a few times before his eyes widen.

"Oh God," Camilla groans, laying her head on the table. "How bad is it?"

Isaac doesn't speak for a moment, his eyes still big as he looks up and around him at everyone in the room.

"Babe, you're number four," he reveals.

Camilla jerks her head up, a very puzzled look on her face. Susan's hand rushes to her mouth. Ron drops his napkin.

"Number four?" Camilla repeats. "You mean, like 40?"

Isaac shakes his head, making direct eye contact with the girl.

"No, I mean four like four. The number after three and before five. You're number four," he gabs, a smile spreading across his face.

"Holy shit," Ron says, looking over at his daughter.

"Oh my gosh, Camilla!" Susan cheers, hugging her stepdaughter in an instant. Camilla even felt tears dripping onto her back.

"Holy shit!" Ron says again. "I knew you were smart, but I didn't think you cared about high school that much!"

Susan still hadn't let go and was swinging Camilla's body back and forth, her joy immense.

"I'm number four…" Camilla says to herself and to the three with her in the kitchen. Susan pulls away and takes Camilla's face into her hands.

"Yes you are sweetie, and for that you get four more desserts!"

Ron gets up from his chair and moves to give his daughter a hug as well, and as he does, Isaac watches the father and daughter with happiness.

To himself, he says, "Camilla Argent, never ceasing to amaze."

\-------

Nolan walks into his house, briefly looking at the old grandfather clock to see the time was 1:47 in the morning. He sighs as he tosses his keys into the little dish that sat on top of the table beside the front door and walks through the dining room and into the brightly lit kitchen – a room he kept lit at all times now to ward off flashbacks of finding his sister's dead body on the kitchen table.

Hearing shuffling in the kitchen Nolan feels his heart leap into his throat when he sees his father come walking into the archway.

"N-Nolan. Oh. Hello," the man stammers, still uncomfortable around his son after only having been back in the house for two days. "I didn't hear you come in. I was just, uh… um... I was just getting some tea before bed. So, I'll just…."

The older Hayes glides past Nolan when suddenly the younger boy says, "Where were you?"

"W-what?" Marcel asks, turning around to look into his son's blue eyes.

"When you left," Nolan sighs, his heart aching at the memory, "where were you? Where did you go?"

"Oh. I went to London," the man smiles weakly, "I thought maybe a change of continent would do me good."

Nolan leans against the archway and crosses his arm, looking down at his well-worn blue converse, "Did it? Do you good?"

"Well, I'm back so…"

"Why?"

"Excuse me?"

"Why are you back? What's the point? I'm about to leave. I've got three months and then, I mean, come August I'm shipping off to New Hampshire, so what's the point in coming back to Beacon Hills now?"

"Well, I… I mean, Nolan…"

"I mean you don't care. About me, that is. So you definitely didn't come back to see me graduate – in fact, I'd be willing to bet that I didn't factor into your decision to come back at all. I sure as hell didn't factor into your decision to leave."

Marcel's eyes fall then, "Nolan…"

"You just left. Packed up and… I woke up and you were gone. I got a note. A lousy piece of notebook paper that, and I'm paraphrasing here, said 'Goodbye and good luck,'" Nolan scoffs, "you just left. Mom died and you packed up and left. You left me, dad."

"You had Annalise."

Nolan reaches a hand up and brushes away a slowly falling tear, "I wanted you too, dad. I wanted… ya know, for a second right after Mom came back and I found out Annalise was alive I thought that maybe everything would be normal again. That come graduation day I would have my mom and my dad and my sister sitting in that audience cheering me on. That for the first time in a long, long time I would have a family again – but then Mom died and you left. You left. And now Annalise is dead. Really dead, so…"

"I'm sorry… I am, I just," Marcel sets his mug down on the dining room table and scratches his head, "after Kelly died the first time… I knew that she would be back. I knew she would. I didn't tell you, she made me promise a long time ago I wouldn't tell you… anything, but I knew she would come back so when you and Jackson and your sister came home after the war on the lacrosse field and Annalise told me she was gone for good… I couldn't… I didn't…"

"You didn't know how to cope," Nolan sighs, "yeah. Join the club."

"Nolan, if there's anything that I can… if you need anything… if I can…"

Nolan shakes his head and says, "I don't want anything from you. Not anymore," with not a sliver of malice, or anger, or contempt in his voice.

The two men stand in silence then. Neither one knowing what to do next or what to say or how to move forward. They just stand in silence.

Painful silence.

\-------

Erica looks around the swarm of people congregating in the Redman Events Center, where the graduation had been held. Everyone was either waiting to find their graduate or had already found them and was making great use of cameras and giving out hugs left and right.

Her senses spot Derek and Francesca before her eyes do, and her heart seems to swell at the sight of the love of her life and their child waiting for her.

She hurries over to her family and is pulled right into Derek's arms, though they are careful not to trap Francesca between them.

"We are so proud of you," Derek says into Erica's ear as he holds her against him. "Francesca has the most amazing mother in the world."

Erica can't help but feel tears well up in her eyes as Derek speaks to her. From everything that Beacon Hills has done to her, both giving and taking, she could never have imagined having such wonderful things in her life.

She pulls away from the man, and takes ahold of Francesca. The happy baby looks up at her mother and smiles, causing Erica's tears to begin to fall from her eyes.

"Hi, pretty girl," she speaks to the baby. "I'm so happy you're here with my today. I wouldn't want it any other way."

Erica laughs in disbelief of how amazing she feels at the moment. She looks from her child to Derek, who is staring at her with so much love it overwhelms her.

"I never thought it could be this good," she admits, her tears still flowing. Derek, too, feels a hot, happy tear squeeze out, but he doesn't bother wiping it away. He pulls her in for a kiss, their passion and happiness taking full effect as their lips meet. Pulling away, Derek plants a light kiss on Francesca's head as well.

Neither parent could recall a happier time in their lives, other than the day Francesca Grace was born.

Within moments, the two are joined by Isaac and Camilla who echo Derek and Erica's happiness.

"Can you believe it?" Camilla asks, taking Isaac's hand.

"I'm still waiting to wake up from this dream," Erica answers as Derek puts his arm over her shoulders, his cologne embracing her.

With his free arm, he shakes Isaac's hand and says his congratulations. Isaac thanks him and shakes his head in disbelief.

"I never really realized how amazing it is to be a part of a pack. Usually we're all so overcome with the strong emotions of fear and anger, it's never felt so… pure. So happy and raw, you know?" he says aloud, truly feeling amplified emotions of joy as it was passed from each member of the pack to the other. It was truly sensational and almost indescribable.

"There's my girl," Ron says, coming up from behind the group. He gives Camilla a tight hug, and he too, is crying. "I'm so proud of you. I wish your mother was here to see this. She would've been bawling at seeing what a beautiful and amazing woman you've become."

Camilla's body shudders with sadness and simultaneous joy, "I wish she was here, more than anything."

"I know, baby," he tells her, kissing the top of her head as the two cry. "I know."

Camilla turns away from her father and to Susan, giving her a grateful look.

"But no matter how much I miss my mother, I am so lucky to have you in my life, Susan. Thank you," she speaks, pulling the woman into a hug and crying even more. As the two hug, Ron claps a hand onto Isaac's shoulder, squeezing a little.

"Take good care of her, when you go. She's a strong one, but she'll never not need you," he tells him, choking on his words a bit. Isaac nods.

"Of course. Anything for her," he responds, so much meaning behind his words.

Ron gathers himself before pulling the boy in for a quick hug.

"You're a good man, Isaac," he says to him before they pull apart. When Ron lets go, Isaac sees that Allison has joined the group and was currently hugging Camilla. She too had begun to cry.

"You did it, Cleavage," Allison is saying to her cousin, tugging on the hem of her baby blue dress that had snuck its way up when she and Camilla hugged.

"Damn right I did, Armpit," Camilla affirms, laughing. "And it feels so good."

Allison smiles, extremely happy for her cousin and her friends. But as Camilla turns away to rejoin Isaac, she can't help but feel as though she is missing out. She was supposed to be on the stage, too.

Before she can allow herself to wallow in her misery, she feels a pair of strong arms grab her from behind and lift her into the air.

"Scott!" she squeals, knowing he is the only one that could get away with that kind of action. He sets her down and spins her around in a flash, making the brunette a little dizzy, but she doesn't mind.

"Congrats, baby," she tells her boyfriend, wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning in for a kiss. Scott pulls away after a moment and looks deep into Allison's brown eyes.

"I want you to know that I am nothing without you, Allison Argent. I am so in love with you, it almost hurts me," he begins, and Allison feels her tears starting up again.

"I know we've been through so much. A lot of that has to do with why you couldn't join us up there today, and I know that's been hard on you. But I also know that you are the most amazing person I have met in my entire existence, and though I don't even have twenty years of life under my belt, I want you to know how extraordinary and thrilling and fulfilling it is to know Allison Argent. To be able to fall asleep with you every night and wake up to you every morning is the only thing I will ever need."

Allison begins bawling, and Scott pulls her in for another kiss, her tears spilling onto his cheeks as they express their love.

"Woo! That's my boy!" Rafael cheers as he comes up next to the couple. Embarrassed Allison pulls away and wipes at her tears, but her smile still shines. When she finishes she reaches over and wipes Scott's face as well, seeing her mascara stains on parts of his face.

Melissa is right behind Rafael, only she hasn't bothered to fix the blubbering mess her face was since she had starting crying right as Lydia have her speech as valedictorian. She knew once the first tear dropped onto her lap that there would be no saving her.

She pulls her son to her, and the tears start again. Scott holds his mother to him, and neither one speaks, but yet they say so much to each other.

"Melissa!" Camilla's voice shrieks, forcing the mother and son to pull away. "Is that a rock I see on your left hand?"

Blushing, Melissa holds up the hand in question, giving her answer.

"Yep, popped the question at dinner last night," Stiles' dad reveals, stretching his arm out across his fiancée's shoulders.

"That he did," Melissa confirms with a smile.

"Even though her ex tried to ruin it," Stiles says, popping up out of nowhere.

Rafael drops his mouth open, "I wasn't trying to ruin it! I was just making sure she was ready! I had to know if—"

"Oh shut it, Raf," Melissa stops him with a chuckle. "I said yes, we're getting married, everyone's graduated, everyone's happy, can we just enjoy that?"

"I'm down with that," Scott nods. Someone even says "Amen."

Still smiling, Stiles makes his way over to Lydia and her mother. He wraps his arms around the girl and kisses her firmly. Her hands slide into the boy's dark brown hair and knock his graduation cap off onto the floor of the auditorium. As they pull apart the girl laughs and says, "What was that for?"

"Melissa and my dad are engaged and I'm feeling the love, Lyds," Stiles laughs.

Natalie clears her throat, "Not that I don't enjoy the romance here, Stiles, sweetie, you know I love you – not as much as my daughter does – but I really think you two ought to cool it with the public display."

"Sorry, Mrs. Martin," Stiles says as he releases Lydia from their embrace, "just the heat of the moment."

"I understand," Natalie smiles, "it's a big day. The biggest day of your lives so far."

"That it is," Stiles nods.

"Lydia, honey, go and grab Jackson would you? I'd love to get a picture of you and your first boyfriend in your caps and gown – and trust me, you'll want it for nostalgia's sake."

"Mom," Lydia scowls, "don't you want to get a pic of me and my current boyfriend?"

"Lydia, don't scowl or you'll get wrinkles. Stiles isn't going anywhere, we can get a picture of you two  _after_ I grab a picture… or four… of you and Jackson. Now go and grab him and stop arguing with your mother. Honestly…"

The red haired girl pulls Stiles down for another kiss, hearing her mother sigh in annoyance as she does so, and says, "I will be right back," and goes over to grab Jackson.

Jackson takes his attention off his parents and places it back onto Nolan who stands awkwardly with his diploma in his hand. He hurries over to the boy and plants a quick kiss on his cheek before saying, "I think you may very well be the hottest salutatorian there's ever been. I mean that, I really do."

Nolan puts his hand on Jackson's cheek and pulls the boy in for a proper kiss, pulling away to say, "You're full of it."

"Full of love, baby," the werewolf laughs.

"Jackson," Lydia hollers as she approaches the two boys, "I need you for a picture or we're all about to have a Natalie Martin Meltdown on our hands – and I don't know if you remember homecoming freshman year or not, but there is nothing, literally nothing, scarier than Natalie Martin when she doesn't get plentiful pictures."

"Yeah, okay. Nolan I will be right back," Jackson says, as he scrunches his nose and grabs Nolan's chin, "wait for me?"

"There's no other way I'd rather spend my graduation," Nolan smirks.

The auburn haired boy watches as Lydia carts Jackson off over to where Natalie and Stiles stand engaged in what appears to be an incredibly interesting and, based off Stiles' expression, offensive conversation. Nolan sighs and opens up his diploma to see his name in the middle of the little piece of paper in Monotype Corsiva font – a respectable font in Nolan's opinion.

"Congratulations," says a painfully familiar voice in front of Nolan. The boy looks up to see his father standing before him in a black suit, light blue button down shirt, and red tie – very similar to the tie that Nolan was currently wearing.

"Thank you," Nolan responds cordially, "you, uh, really didn't have to come to this."

"Yes I did," Marcel says.

The two men both look away and focus on the swirling crowd all around them. The balloons and the flowers and the crying mothers and few fathers who weren't afraid to shed a few tears were an oddly calming sight to be seen in the midst of the Hayes Boys' awkward encounter. Marcel clears his throat then and reaches into his pocket, pulling out a black velvet box and handing it to his son.

"What's that?" Nolan asks, pointing to the box cautiously.

"It's a box," Marcel answers.

"You didn't get that from Pandora did you?"

Marcel rolls his eyes, "No, son, this is not Pandora's box."

"And I'm guessing you didn't fit a pony into a box  _that_ small," Nolan jokes, successfully putting a soft smile on his dad's face. The boy takes the box from his father and slowly open it to reveal a watch, "I have a smartphone," Nolan says, looking up into his dad's dark eyes.

"And I'm an Aries, what's either of these things got to do with me giving you a watch?"

Nolan laughs, "I'm just saying, why would I look at an analog clock when I could look at a digital clock. It takes time, no pun intended, to figure out what time an analog clock has. A digital clock takes no time at all. It's timeless, really."

"That, right there, the way you're able to speak one hundred eighteen words a minute – that's your mother," Marcel smiles, "and besides that, you want a wristwatch. An analog wristwatch. It's professional and you're a Dartmouth Man now, you need to look professional."

"Thank you, Dad."

Looking down at his shiny black shoes Marcel says, "I'm leaving. Again. My plane takes off at five."

"It's four ten," Nolan says, reading his new watch with ease.

"I just… you don't… you don't need me anymore, Nolan. I see that. It makes me feel like a horrible father – I..I am a horrible father – but it makes me feel especially horrible to know that I hurt you like I did. I never wanted to… when I left… everything without your mother, without Kelly, it just… I can't live in a world without her. I can't look at you and see her day in and day out and not feel…."

"Empty?"

"Yes. Empty."

The two men stand in silence now until Nolan finally says, "My address next year, I'm living in Brown 102C, so if you wanted to… you don't have to, by any means, but if you wanted to write me or something…"

"Brown 102C," Marcel nods, "I'll remember that."

In a sudden impulse Nolan closes the distance between them and hugs his father. Squeezing him tightly, not wanting to let him go but knowing he had to – that he was ready to, "Thank you. For coming today, Dad."

Marcel pats his son on the back, "I'm proud of you."

The Hayes boys separate then and Marcel nods curtly at his son before turning on his heel to walk out of the auditorium – out of Nolan's life.

A hand is on Nolan's shoulder then and a voice is saying, "Very fancy watch. Gucci?"

Nolan looks to his left to see Camilla standing beside him with soft smile on her face. He looks down at the little open black velvet box that housed the watch and replies, "Yes."

"He came," Camilla notes.

"Yes."

"That means a lot. Him coming like that."

"Yeah," Nolan says, clearing his throat, "it was… it was good of him."

Camilla smiles, "You don't have to hide it from me. The others, I get it – you wanting to hide the fact that your dad coming here phased you in the slightest – but you don't have to hide it from me. You got closure with him. That means a lot to you. You got to say goodbye. You don't have to hide the importance of that from me, I'm your person. You're obligated to share the important stuff with me."

Nolan lays his head on his best friend's shoulder, catching a big whiff of her perfume in the process, "I'm glad he was here."

Camilla wraps her arm around the boy, "I know."

"You know."

"We're connected, kid. There's not a whole lot about you I don't know."

Lifting his head Nolan says, "Yeah? What's my favorite color?"

"Maroon."

"Favorite song?"

"Like you're a constant enough person to have a favorite song. As if."

Nolan laughs, "Okay, favorite drink?"

With her arm still around her best friend Nolan and Camilla begin walking toward the rest of their friends as she answers, "Obviously tequila. In fact, I'm beginning to wonder if you don't have stock in Jose Cuervo with as much money as you throw at him. Speaking of, you ready for one wild night?"

"Every night is wild with you, Camilla."

"What are we talking about," Stiles asks as he approaches the duo.

"Getting drunk," Jackson answers, "am I right?"

"Of course you're right," Isaac laughs as he reaches the slowly forming group, "there's a party tonight. Camilla and Nolan are almost certainly talking about getting drunk at that party."

"We talking about the party?" Allison asks as she and Scott join them.

"Danny's party?" Lydia asks as she wraps her arm around Stiles' waist.

Erica, holding Francesca walks up, "Are we really not focusing on the big picture here?"

"Big picture?" Isaac asks, wiggling his finger in front of Francesca's nose, evoking a giggle from the baby.

"We did it," the blonde girl says, "we actually did it."

"Did what?" Jackson wonders.

"Graduated," Scott sighs, "we graduated."

"We graduated," Stiles laughs, "ya know, after everything we've been through… this feels even better than I thought it would."

"Here, here," Scott smiles.

"We did it," Erica says again, looking at her group of friends – her pack, her family, "We really did it."

\-------

Jackson places his hand on Nolan's lower back, felling the soft purple fabric of the boy's sweater beneath his hand and smiles – it was a good night. A happy night. Everything was going well, incredibly well, the problems of weeks past were in the pack's rearview mirror and tonight was their night to celebrate all the triumphs they had made since being pulled into the supernatural world.

All was well.

"Oh my god," Nolan says as the two enter the kitchen, "Camilla is going to go berserk."

"And that's because…?" Jackson inquires.

Sticking out one thin finger Nolan points to a watermelon sitting on the counter in Danny's kitchen, "Camilla hates watermelon. Hates it. Loathes it even, she once told me she thought watermelon shouldn't even be considered a fruit."

"Well, that's a vodka watermelon. Camilla likes vodka, doesn't she?"

"That's not the point."

"There's a point?" Jackson laughs.

"Yes, and the point is that Camilla is going to be drunk tonight. Next level, crazy pants, three bottles of tequila werewolf drunk. And when Camilla gets drunk, she gets a little violent. Remember the time she threw that lamp at Paul Stratford when he started singing that Justin Bieber song after the Halloween Dance? Imagine what she'll do when she sees her most hated fruit."

"And here I thought  _I_ was her most hated fruit," Jackson jokes, "so what do we do? We toss it outta here?"

Nolan flicks his wrist in the direction of the fruit, ready to say, "In the fridge," when suddenly the watermelon bursts – almost as though someone had pressed a button to detonate the large fruit.

"Did you just…"

"Make the watermelon explode?" Nolan finishes, "Yeah. Yeah I did."

"How did you…" Jackson begins to ask when suddenly Danny struts into the kitchen with a red solo cup in his hands, a smile quickly falling off his face when he sees the watermelon-y mess in his once immaculately clean kitchen.

"What… what? What happened in here?" the tall boy asks.

"Danny I…" Nolan begins to say when the dark haired lacrosse player rolls his eyes and sets his cup down on the island, going to the kitchen drawer by the sink to pull out a big, yellow dish rag.

"I knew I shouldn't have invited werewolves and banshees and demons to my party," Danny mumbles as he begins to wipe away chunks of vodka infused watermelon bitterly.

\-------

Lydia plops herself down on the porch swing beside Allison, the dark haired girl circling a perfectly manicured finger around the rim of her red solo cup. She locks eyes with her red haired friend and smiles, "Having fun?"

"Tons and tons," Lydia replies as she produces lip gloss from a purse Allison hadn't realized she'd been carrying, "what about you? Is it a good night to be Allison Argent?"

"Probably not as good as it is to be Lydia Martin," Allison laughs.  
"No, I'd venture not – and do you know why? Because Lydia Martin is having sex tonight."

Allison raises an eyebrow, "You're what now?"

Lydia smacks her lips together, smoothing out her lip gloss even further, "Tonight is the night. No more excuses, no more fatherly interruptions, no more hesitation. Tonight Stiles and I are sealing the deal – a girl can only hold out for so long and I have held out longer than most nuns."

"Well nuns never have sex, Lydia."

"Well I haven't had sex since Aiden and that is just thoroughly unacceptable. Stiles and I are approaching our one year and we still haven't done it. That changes tonight, Allison Rebecca Argent. It changes tonight."

Allison shakes her head, laughing, "Well I am happy for you. Very, very happy. You and Stiles are… you're quite the pair. A power couple of sorts. I'm happy for you."

"Tonight we become a sexually active power couple," Lydia beams, "I have never, ever been this horny before, Allison. Ever. I feel like a middle aged housewife after she just finished reading  _Fifty Shades of Grey_. I'm that horny."

"That's pretty horny."

"And what about you? You and Scotty-Boy planning on getting your ya-yas out?"

The dark haired girl bites her lip, "Scott and I have been getting our ya-yas out… pretty frequently lately, very frequently, actually. He and I are doing it like a couple of horny teenagers…"

"…you are a couple of horny teenagers," Lydia laughs.

"This is true," Allison admits.

"Look at us," Lydia smiles, "when I first met you I was in a superficial relationship with Jackson wherein I pretended to be a stereotypical, stupid popular girl – and now here I am, valedictorian and future student at Yale University. And you, when you first moved here you were some quiet, shy little new girl and now you're a big, bad hunter who has the world – and an Alpha werewolf – at her feet. We have come very far."

"I'll drink to that," Allison laughs, taking a big sip of her poorly mixed vodka lemonade.

"I'm proud of us," Lydia says finally.

"I'm proud of us too."

Lydia's pride is suddenly overshadowed when the ever-mysterious man who never failed to show up to almost every gathering she had experienced within the last week walks in.

"Hey, Lydia," Jordan Parrish greets her, his eyes full of what the girl could only construe as mischief.

\-------

"I am so fucked up, I am so fucked up," Camilla says to herself as she walks along the edge of the pool outside, attempting to rejoin Isaac after she had left him for a minute to refill their drinks. Much like her time as a regular ol' human, Camilla is able to hide her extreme intoxication from her boyfriend, and she mentally pats herself on the back for still having those skills despite being a werewolf and having to use wolfsbane on herself to have a wild time. A fact that Isaac was not presently aware of. Or anyone else, for that matter.

"I'm back, baby," she coos as she comes up from behind Isaac who was currently chatting with some guy from the lacrosse team she didn't know and probably never would. Isaac's former teammate nods and scoots away, knowing their conversation was probably finished.

"Drink number five," Isaac notes, accepting the plastic cup Camilla handed him. "And still, I feel nothing. Isn't it great being a werewolf?"

"SO great," Camilla agrees, though she wasn't so sure she was telling the truth. She puts the cup to her mouth and takes a sip, eyeing the rim of it once she pulls it away, hoping none of her Stila lip stain got smudged during the transaction.

A hand touches her shoulder and she turns to see Erica who was looking like her old self in tight jeans and a black leather jacket.

"Hey, Blondie," Camilla greets her. "Are you having the time of your life or what?"

Erica smiles and shrugs, "You know, I do miss having fun with you guys like this, but I also miss hanging out with my baby and having sex with Derek the minute she falls asleep."

Camilla begins to pout, her lower lip protruding, "No, you can't leave!"

"Camilla, you know I love you, but partying just isn't the same when you've got a family to go home to. Plus we've got all summer, not to mention we're all moving to San Francisco together. We've only just begun," Erica smiles, offering some solace to Camilla who sighs.

"Oh, alright. But only because I know how cute Francesca is and if I was her mom I wouldn't want to be away from her either," Camilla agrees, taking another sip from her cup afterwards.

"Drink for me, babe, the werewolf in ya can handle it," Erica says with a wink. She turns to leave but stops, and a puzzled look crosses over her face. She looks back at Isaac and Camilla.

"What is Parrish doing here?" she asks them, hoping they might know.

Camilla gasps, "He is? Where?"

Isaac watches as his girlfriend stumbles to smooth her hair while looking around for the man in question. He can't help but chuckle since he knew her crush was nothing more than that.

Erica points over near the house where, sure enough, Parrish stands, alone. While most people would look odd being alone at a high school party when they clearly weren't in high school, Parrish somehow made it work.

Camilla's eyes widen and she takes a long drink.

"Alright, officially too much going on for me now. I'm heading out. See you guys later," Erica says, waving goodbye to her friends as she walks away.

Camilla waves to her friend, turning her eyes away from Parrish for just a moment.

"Babe, I'm going to say something crazy," she shares suddenly, turning to Isaac with her eyes full of worry and drunkenness.

"Camilla, half of everything you say is crazy. Just bring it on."

The girl takes a deep breath, and another drink, "I really want to kiss Parrish."

Isaac sighs and smiles ever so slightly, "Yeah, I can tell."

"I don't know why, I really don't. But his face is basically screaming at me. It's almost annoying, and I feel like a piece of shit girlfriend, and maybe—"

"Camilla, babe," Isaac stops her, putting one of his hands on her arm. "I'm not mad. It's called being physically attracted to someone. And for some reason you're drunk, and that only amplifies things. It's normal. Don't you remember you would tell me all the time about other guys you would make out with?"

"I mean yeah… I just…"

"You've been through a lot. A lot has changed. Things are different. But not everything has to be. I don't care when you think other guys are hot. I know you, Camilla. If you were really so infatuated with someone that it might cause a problem with our relationship, you definitely wouldn't tell me. You're not doing anything wrong by thinking he's hot or whatever. Honestly, I think you should kiss him, actually," he reveals to her with a casual shrug.

Camilla's brow furrows and she opens her mouth to speak, but says nothing. She doesn't know what to say.

"I'm serious. You need to stop feeling guilty for the sexual things that go through your mind, Camilla. Kiss him. I'm sure it would cause a scene and I know you love those too," Isaac smiles, completely sincere.

"Babe, am I hearing this right?" Camilla questions, looking at the drink in her hand and wondering if it was spiked with more than the wolfsbane she slipped in it when Isaac wasn't looking.

"Yes, Camilla. I am in no way threatened that an innocent kiss with Parrish will ruin our relationship. If it helps you, I'm okay with it. I know there's more to it then you're really thinking about right now…" he drifts off, not wanting to flat-out state what he was getting at. And as much as Camilla wanted to forget, she knew he was talking about Spencer. And she knew he was right.

"I have the coolest boyfriend ever," she replies, sighing happily.

\-------

Scott stands on the balcony of Danny's parents' bedroom looking down at what he figures has to be his entire graduating class. He smiles as he sees hordes of kids getting together to take pictures, laughing and drinking and enjoying their time together. It makes him happy to know that so many people were happy.

"There you are," says a soft voice from behind him, "I was looking everywhere for you."

Scott turns around to see Allison walking toward him in a flowing green floral dress. The werewolf smiles at the hunter and says, "Yeah… I saw you walking around down there searching your heart out."

When the girl reaches the boy she punches him playfully in the arm and says, "Jerk."

Scott quickly pulls his girlfriend into a kiss, pulling away and placing his forehead against hers, "I love you, you know that don't you?"

"Of course I do – and I love you too, Scott."

The two stand in each other's arms for a minute more before they eventually part and walk, hand-in-hand out onto the balcony, looking over their classmates – the music suddenly pumping much louder than it had been a minute ago.

As the two against the balcony's railing, Allison clears her throat, "So… I was thinking about college next year."

"Oh were you?" Scott says with a smirk.

"I was, and I know that you were planning on rooming with Stiles, but since he got direct admission into the academy you're roommateless… and well, I've got that huge apartment all to myself. I mean the thing is massive and since my dad bought it outright I feel a little bad just tossing it to the wayside so I was wondering, if you wanted to… maybe…"

"Live together?" Scott concludes.

"Is it a bad idea? It is. It is. It really, really is. I mean we're young – a couple of teenagers and me proposing we live together is just… it's absurd, really. Lunatic level nutty. Send me to Eichen House, ladies and gentlemen."

"Allison?"

"Yes?"

"I'd love to live with you," the werewolf smiles.

"You would?"

Scott leans forward and kisses his girlfriend, "I would because I love  _you_."

Right then, all Allison can do is smile.

\-------

Lydia leads Stiles down a narrow hallway and into the guest room of the Mahealani's house. The queen sized bed is covered with a soft looking lilac colored comforter and more throw pillows than any one bed could ever need and with the pale moonlight flowing in through the windows on either side of the bed there was a certain type of ambiance that made Lydia feel suddenly very, very nervous.

The two fall back onto the bed, kissing and being together the thought both teens were trying desperately to focus on instead of how otherworldly nervous they both are.

Stiles' fingers trace up the girl's soft outer thigh and up under her dark red skirt. When he feels the lace of her panties he pauses, pulling his hand away and pulling his lips off his girlfriend's to smile at her and ask, "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure," Lydia smiles, moving her thumb gently back and forth over his cheek, "I love you, Stiles – so, so much."

"I love you too, but…"

"But nothing. I want this Stiles. I want you… completely."

Licking his red lips Stiles places a series of kisses down Lydia's neck, as his hands begin to unbutton her flower covered blouse. Lydia is moaning, it feels good – Stiles' kisses and knowing that she and Stiles were about to take their relationship to the next level. A level Lydia was nervous and excited to reach.

"I love you," Stiles breathes as he feels Lydia pulling off his plaid shirt, "I love you, I love you, I love you."

Lydia flips them so that she's sitting on Stiles' lap, she can feel how excited he is through his khaki pants. The girl reaches behind herself and begins to remove her lacy black bra and smiles down at Stiles' excited face, "Are you ready?"

Pushing forward slightly Stiles smirks and asks, "What do you think?"

\-------

Camilla wanders up to Nolan and Jackson after leaving Isaac behind in the kitchen. He and Danny were arguing about something or other and she got bored. So here she is, another drink full of wolfsbane and, if she were still human, a drunkenness she would consider a 7/10.

"Hello best friend. Hello best friend's jawful boyfriend," she greets them, slurring a little bit, but nothing too noticeable.

"Did she just say—"

"Jawful, yes. Like a mix of jaw and awful," Nolan answers, the tequila he had been slugging down all night licking his words.

"Told you I had more," Camilla states, pointing a finger at Jackson and winking slowly.

"Where's Isaac?" Jackson quickly changes the subject, not in the mood to hear more of what she had in store.

Camilla gestures at the house behind her, "Inside. He is on purse duty since someone pointed out to me that it sort of clashed with my outfit."

She turns her eyes to Nolan and shakes her head. He throws his hands in the air, exasperated.

"It doesn't clash, per say, but the light blue of the purse just looked odd with the maroon to me, I'm sorry. I'm also drunk," he defends himself as he crosses his arms over his chest.

"Looks like you need a better chaperone then," a voice joins the conversation. Camilla is delighted to see the owner of the voice is Parrish. Jackson is a little peeved.

"Decided to stop lingering in the shadows and actually look like a normal person, huh Jordan?" Jackson asks, taking a sip of his beer.

"As normal as someone my age can look while at a high school party," he shrugs, smiling.

"You look great to me," Camilla flirts, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

Nolan eyes his friend, a bit shaken by her outright flirtation.

"Well, when I'm hanging around a group like you guys I feel I should try to look my best, or I might stand out even more," he responds, a twinkle in his eyes.

Camilla sort of blushes and, without warning, leans in to whisper something into the man's ear. Nolan and Jackson watch as his eyes widen and his smile grows.

"Oh really?" he asks after Camilla pulls away.

"I wouldn't lie to you," she tells him, her eyes dark.

"Well, even if you did, I don't care," he says suddenly before grabbing the back of Camilla's head and pulling her in for one of the most passionate kisses Nolan had ever witnessed in his life.

The boy drops his drink as he watches his hellhound make out with his best friend. Jackson spits out his last sip of beer.

The two finally pull away, and Camilla nearly stumbles from being let go, but Parrish catches the girl and makes sure she is steady before he lets her go again.

"Okay, what the FUCK?" Nolan yells, stamping his foot, toddler style.

"That's my cue," Parrish winks at Camilla before edging away from the group.

"Nice doing business with ya," Camilla calls after him, touching her lips with her fingers.

Nolan whips his face to look directly at Jackson, his eyes wild.

"Am I seeing things? Am I so drunk that I am imagining Parrish and Camilla playing tongue twister?" he asks belligerently.

"I-I saw it too…" Jackson stammers, not sure why he saw it.

"Camilla, are you fucking nuts?" Nolan questions, turning back to look at the brunette. "You realize how many people could have seen that and would tell Isaac!"

"Tell Isaac what?" the man in question asks, walking up to the group and putting an arm around his girlfriend.

"I kissed Parrish. Well, he kissed me and I kissed him back," she shrugs.

"Oh, yeah. I know," Isaac reveals to the shocked couple. "Long story. But it's fine. I told her to."

Nolan shakes his head over and over, too drunk and surprised to wrap his mind around what was happening.

"I'm getting away from this, from my crazy best friend and her crazy boyfriend and that crazy hellhound and I'm getting more tequila because Jose is the only person that makes sense to me right now," he says quickly as he starts walking away.

Jackson looks from Camilla and Isaac to Nolan, shrugs, and follows his boyfriend.

"Poor Nolan," Camilla says. "I'll have a lot of explaining to do tomorrow."

"Speaking of that," Isaac says, his voice serious. Before he goes on, he pulls Camilla away from the large horde of people into a part of Danny's backyard that was more quiet and isolated.

"You're not mad, are you? I knew I shouldn't have… I just thought that—"

"Camilla, stop. I'm not mad about that. I said it was fine. It's this," he says, pulling out the bag of wolfsbane that was in Camilla's purse.

The girl's eyes widen but she doesn't say a word.

"Now I'm pretty sure you're not drugging anyone, because every other werewolf I've spoken to seems fine. But you, you're drunk. I know you think you're good at hiding it, which you are, but only from people who don't know you like I do. Nolan would notice, but he's just as drunk as you are. Even more, probably."

Camilla still doesn't speak. She sets her nearly empty cup on an abandoned beer pong table that was next to them. Her eyes fall to the ground, but Isaac puts a hand under her chin to bring them back up to his face.

"Camilla… I'm not mad, I just… I want to know what's going on with you. I let you kiss Parrish, I thought it would help you get used to those feelings, those sorts of situations again. I've been taking things slow with you. I have no problem doing that. None at all. I would go skydiving with you if it made you feel better, and you know planes terrify me. But drugging yourself to get fucked up… I don't get it. I know you like to get drunk and have a good time, but this almost seems like too much. God only knows how much of this you've used, and it doesn't take much of this to get a werewolf going."

Isaac looks into Camilla's eyes, his so focused and hard on hers, trying hard to read the emotion in her eyes.

"Baby, please tell me you're okay. I'm so worried about you and I'm trying to give you your space, but I need to know you're okay."

Camilla gulps, "I'm getting there."

"Okay…" he responds, wanting more.

"Yeah, I'm probably a little too fucked up right now, but I wanted to… This is going to sound stupid, but I wanted to get fucked up so I could be with you. I feel so selfish not giving you what I know you need. And I know when I'm drunk, all my issues go away for a bit. And you saw it yourself! I was more like myself tonight! I kissed Parrish and I didn't feel uncomfortable and scared. I started to feel normal again."

"Don't. Don't feel guilty. You don't owe me anything. What our relationship is has nothing to do with sex," Isaac tells her.

"Um, yeah it does," Camilla scoffs rolling her eyes and laughing for a moment before getting serious again. "Really, though, Isaac. What you and I have, I know it's more than just the sex. But it sucks for me too. I want nothing more than to be as close to you as I can. Me being really drunk just helps to remind me that I don't have to be scared."

"But if you are, it's okay. This takes time, Camilla, and I would wait forever," he says to her, his hand moving up to caress her face.

"Well you don't have to, Isaac," she replies with a smile. "I'm getting there. Tonight was a big night. I'm getting better. Really. I'm going to be okay. Okay?"

Isaac sighs, searching her face for anything that would indicate she isn't okay. After a moment he pulls her into him and their lips meet. Soft and sweet.

"Okay," he says, his lips still against hers.

\-------

The door to the guest room slowly opens and Lydia walks out feeling satisfied beyond words. She shuts the door behind her and slowly buttons up her floral blouse, not paying attention to the man who is casually leaning against the wall.

"You seem… fulfilled," Parrish comments, startling the red haired banshee.

"How long have you…?" Lydia demands, a scowl on her face.

"Somewhere between 'You feel so good, Lydia… So, so good!' and 'Right there, Stiles! Right there!'" the Hellhound laughs, "I take it Stilinski is a more passionate lover than any of us may have suspected."

Ignoring the blushing Lydia was violently aware she was doing she says, "Not that it's really any of your business, but Stiles may very well be the best – and  _biggest_  – I've ever had. And that's saying something because Jackson doesn't just talk the talk, he walks the walk too."

"Good for Nolan," Parrish smiles as he pushes himself up and begins to follow Lydia down the hallway, "so why aren't you sticking around for a little post-coitus cuddling? You the type to hit it and quit it?"

"I'm going to get water."

"Because you're a little dehydrated after all that tantric love making?"

Lydia laughs, "You're prying."

"You aren't denying it."

"Because there's no denying the truth, Jordan."

Parrish chuckles, "Stiles and Lydia sitting in a tree f-u-c…"

"Shut up," Lydia groans, "god you're like the little brother I never wanted. What are you doing here anyway? Isn't a twenty-seven year old man being at a high school party a little, I don't know, slutty?"

"Where Nolan leads I will follow. One of perks of my demon being part of a pack is that I get to harass his supernatural cousin. So go on, give me details, I'm dying to know all about Stiles' sexual appetite."

"You are gross and inappropriate," Lydia giggles.

"Stiles and Lydia… Stydia. Huh, now that's a couple name."

Lydia narrows her gaze, "We sound like an STD."

"You are a sexually active couple now…"

"Shut up!"

\-------

"This one is wolfsbane free, okay?" Isaac whispers to Camilla, his voice playful. She laughs and smacks his arm lightly.

"Shut up, Isaac."

She wraps an arm around his midsection and leans into him, more than happy to be coming down off her wolfsbane-induced drunkenness.

Right in front of the couple, Nolan is slumped on one of Danny's lawn chairs that was surrounding the pool, Jackson next to him with a glass of water. Stiles sits in the chair next to him, Lydia on his lap. Allison and Scott walk up to the group, hand in hand, smiling.

"Hey, the gangs all here!" Stiles announces, beaming at everyone around him. Lydia snuggles into his neck, feeling complacent and comfortable, two words she didn't usually use to describe her emotions.

"Aye, it's the Beacon Hills Eight!" a voice yells out from the remaining crowd of recent graduates.

"What?" Scott asks quizzically, an amused look crossing his face. "Guys, do we have a nickname we don't know about?"

The group collectively chuckles, expect for Nolan who merely smiles ever so slightly, almost asleep in the plastic chair.

"It's not a secret or anything," a girl named Yasmine Demarcus says with a scowl and a drink in her hand. She stops in front of the group, one hand on her hip. "You guys are so wrapped up in each other that you just didn't realize how much we all talked about you, because all of you were either kidnapped or suspected as dead or some outcast that suddenly became popular. And somehow every thing that has ever happened in Beacon Hills has something to do with at least one of you. Fuck the Beacon Hills Eight, if you ask me."

Everyone looks around at each other, shocked from the revelation and the audacity Yasmine had.

"What that bitch say?" Nolan mumbles, though only Jackson hears him.

Camilla steps forward and clacks her tongue, "Well, girl I don't know, I don't recall anyone asking you, so…" With that, the brunette takes one more step forward and shoves Yasmine into the pool.

A large gasp escapes from everyone, and all eyes turn to the girl surfacing in the pool.

"Haha. Fuck Yasmine Demarcus!" a voice yells out as the girl starts thrashing around in the water, clearly angered.

Camilla, satisfied, turns back to her friends and takes her spot back at Isaac's side.

"That's my girlfriend," he says, kissing her forehead.

She shrugs and, yawning, she responds, "Fuck Yasmine Demarcus, if you ask me."

The girl begins wading out of the pool, and no one helps her out. Without warning, another voice speaks up.

Brock Barkley steps forward and starts talking, his voice loud. "Honestly though, we do call you the Beacon Hills Eight. BH8 for short. But it's not something derogatory. You guys are legends. I don't think any of us could handle the stuff that you guys have been through. And even though a lot of it doesn't make sense, who cares! You guys have been in our lives for a while, and high school would have sucked so much more without you, so I personally love the BH8, and I think the majority of us feel the same way too, right guys?"

A bunch of "yeahs" circle around the remaining people and Brock smiles.

"See? Yasmine sucks. We love you guys. So let's raise a cup! To the BH8!"

Everyone raises their cups in the air and "To the BH8!" is yelled out, filling the group with shock and happiness. Maybe Beacon Hills isn't so bad after all.

\-------


	47. Waiting For the End (5x11)

Camilla and Nolan sit side by side at the Beacon Hills High baseball field, as the BHHS Cyclones take the field. Camilla eyes Isaac as he runs to his position as shortstop and when her boyfriend makes eye contact with her she winks.

Suddenly Lydia is plopping herself down beside Camilla on the bleachers and says, "Everything's ready."

"Everything?" Camilla asks, taking her eyes off her man to look at the red haired girl.

"I've got balloons, I've got a cake, I've got streamers, and candles, and twinkly little fairy lights – the woods in their backyard are going to look like Stars Hollow."

"Sounds promising," Nolan smiles.

"All the bases are covered," Lydia continues, "trust me, Camilla. Nobody does a party like Lydia Martin, okay? Nobody."

Brushing her black hair behind her ear Camilla says, "If stupid Derek and stupid Erica would have just told us they were going to go to City Hall to get eloped things really would have been so much easier. We could've had this little wedding party after their  _actual_  wedding not a week and a half later."

"How did they go a whole week as a married couple and not tell us? How was Erica not shoving her ring down everyone's throats? I mean that thing is HUGE – and in great shape, you can't even see where the Titanic hit it."

"A Titanic reference, funny," Camilla says with an eye roll, before smiling and adding, "I would definitely go down with this Derica Ship."

" _Anyway_ ," Lydia grumbles, pulling the focus back to the party, "we are all set. Derek and Erica are in store for one hell of a wedding party."

"That's what I like to hear," Camilla smiles.

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Isaac huffs as he sets his baseball bag down inside the front door of Camilla's house before heading further inside. Camilla is right behind him, shutting the door once both of them are in the house.

"Smells like Susan made some kind of dessert," Camilla sniffs, pausing in the living room to gather her hair into a pony tail. The dark brown strands are longer than usual, which Isaac liked. As if on cue, Susan struts out of the kitchen with a thousand-watt smile on her face and oven mitts on her hands.

"There's my beautiful children!" she greets them, gesturing towards the kitchen. "I'm sure you're both starving after being in the hot sun all day.

Camilla nods, "Yeah, sitting on my ass all day takes work. I'm drained." With that, she heads into the kitchen as Isaac chuckles.

"Poor baby. Playing baseball is nothing compared to lounging around, huh?" he jokes, following closely behind her.

The two take their seats at the kitchen table, where Ron is already sitting, enjoying lasagna. He briefly looks up from his meal to acknowledge the two new additions to the table, but doesn't say anything.

Susan bustles around, setting out plates for Camilla and Isaac and allowing them to serve themselves.

"I can't believe you're actually eating lasagna now," Isaac comments, looking at Camilla's hefty serving.

The girl shrugs, her oversized t-shirt slipping a ways down her shoulder, "Susan could serve me a boot she found in the ocean and I would probably eat it."

Susan turns to her step-daughter and smiles, "Oh, Camilla, you're too sweet. But I would never dream of serving a boot! You have such a wild imagination."

The next few moments are silent, except for the clink of forks on the ceramic plates as the group eats. Susan speaks after a bit.

"Isaac, is everything working out here? You have enough shampoo and whatnot?"

Isaac nods, chewing and swallowing before he answers, "Yeah, Susan. Everything is great. Thank you guys so much, again, for letting me stay here until we leave for college."

"Of course, sweetie!" Susan chirps, her hand resting on her heart. "You got such a wonderful offer for the loft, there was no way you could have turned it down. We're happy to help. Plus it's like a little sneak peek of what it will be like for you two to live together in San Francisco."

Susan winks at the couple and takes another bite of her dinner.

Ron huffs as he shovels in more of his own food.

"Got something to say, Daddio?" Camilla questions, eyeing her father.

"Who me?" Ron looks around, as if there were someone else she could have been talking to. "Nope, I'm just sitting here enjoying my wife's wonderful cooking."

Susan blushes, "Oh now you all are just showering me in compliments, stop that now," she says, embarrassed. "But if you're all finished, I did make some treats for dessert."

"Yessssssss," Camilla celebrates, closing her eyes in anticipation.

Susan pushes her chair back from the table, making a little scooting sound as she does. She heads over to the counter and pulls the cover off of a glass plan so she can begin cutting the dessert.

_\-------_

Nolan and Jackson sit opposite Stiles and Lydia inside Just Desserts. Nolan and Lydia are splitting a slice of pineapple upside down cake as Stiles rambles on about the movie they'd just seen.

"Don't get me wrong, it had its moments… but if the movie came out before the Regan Administration, it's just not going to be good. Whose idea was it to go to this Throwback Movie Night thing anyway?" the dark haired boy asks.

"Okay,  _Casablanca_  is a classic," Nolan says, waving his fork in Stile's direction, "and if you continue to insult it like this I'm going to have to use my super neat demon powers to make the Jeep blow up."

"Leave Roscoe out of this."

Lydia rolls her eyes, "What movie would you have preferred we see, Stiles? Did you want to watch  _Star Wars_  for the nine thousandth time?"

"Don't disrespect  _Star Wars_ ," Stiles frowns, " _Star Wars_  is a classic.  _Star Wars_  is a  _true_ classic."

"I'm pretty sure  _Casablanca_ is a truer classic than _Star Wars_ …" Jackson interjects.

"And here I was starting to like you," Stiles says with a chuckle.

Lydia sets her fork down and throws her curled hair over her left shoulder and says, "Can we talk about anything else at all? Anything in the world?"

"We could talk about how much you love me," Stiles smiles.

"Or how hot I am," Jackson smirks.

Under the table Nolan kicks Jackson, evoking an "Ow!" from the werewolf.

"How's Parrish?" Lydia asks, ignoring both boys completely.

"He's good," Nolan responds, "He's been teaching me how to handle all my… whatever. It's a little weird though, sometimes he'll make comments about how Annalise and I had the same eyes or how when I'm trying hard to concentrate that we have the same pensive look."

"He misses her?" Stiles asks softly.

"We both do," Nolan responds.

"Are you still having nightmares?"

"Not as often."

"Three times last week," Jackson corrects, "one night he woke up and fell into a full on panic attack. It took me an hour and a half to get him off the edge."

Nolan frowns and pokes at the cake somberly before he sets his fork down, no longer craving the fruity sweetness.

"He still keeps the kitchen fully lit at all times too," Jackson adds.

"It was scary," Nolan says flatly, "coming home and finding my sister murdered was scary. Seeing something that would give even Freddy Krueger nightmares. There's a lot of residual… I just… it was scary."

"Nolan…" Stiles begins.

Lydia sighs and says, "No one is…"

"I didn't mean to…" Jackson starts.

"So. Erica and Derek got married," Nolan says smoothly, ignoring his friends entirely. "Let's talk about that, okay? Let's talk about the happy ending they're getting. Let's talk about that."

_\-------_

Melissa, Allison, Scott, and Stiles' dad sit at a table in UC Beacon Hills' dining hall. Scott dives into eating his burger as Melissa starts talking about what a great veterinary program the school has and how this place was going to be a perfect fit for Scott.

"…and Allison, I mean, the elementary education program is stellar too. Did you hear your advisor tell you that with all the online work you've done this year that you've got a 98% chance of admission to the school of education?" Melissa rambles, "That's just so amazing."

"My parents would be very proud of me," Allison says as she takes a stab at her salad, "and I think that the whole teaching job'll make it easy for me to go out at night to kick some werewolf ass."

Stiles' dad laughs, "I'm sure you'll manage to have the best of both worlds."

"This is so cool," Scott says.

"What's that?" Melissa asks as she takes a bite of her chicken sandwich.

"I'm going to college. That's pretty cool. Stiles'll be here, that's really cool. Allison is going to be here, that's really cool too. And I'm here, right now, with three of the most important people in my life. It's just… really cool. After everything, ya know?"

Allison places her hand on top of Scott and gives it a squeeze, "Very cool."

"Very cool indeed," Melissa smiles.

"I'll eat to that!" the older Stilinski laughs.

_\-------_

"Babe, did you grab the diaper bag from the car?" Erica calls out to Derek as she steps into her house, Francesca in tow.

"Yeah, I got it," he says, a few feet behind her. He takes a few steps into the house before pausing, cocking his head. "Do you hear that?"

Erica looks at the man and listens, "Something in the backyard?"

Derek doesn't answer, but sets down the bag in his hand to go investigate. Erica pulls Fran closer to her, a bit concerned. She pushes the front door shut, a gust of wind making her olive green sundress billow around her.

Derek's feet creak as he walks towards the sliding glass door that leads to their backyard, navigating around various boxes that they had begun to pack in anticipation of moving.

His eyes widen when he gets to the door and Erica narrows her eyes, unable to see what he is seeing.

"What is it?" she asks, a bit worried.

"Come check it out, babe," he says, looking back at her, his facial expression not giving anything away.

Hesitantly, the blonde makes her way to where her husband stands and peers out of the glass to see wait was waiting for her.

"Oh my God. No they didn't," she states, dumbfounded as she sees all of her friends and their families gathered in the backyard. A large banner hung from two trees that reads "Congratulations, Derek and Erica!"

Derek smiles, happy from the surprise and his wife's reaction. He reaches out a hand to slide open the door, making sure to unlock the door.

The group calls out "Surprise!" as the family walks into their backyard. Camilla pushes to the front of the group to meet Erica and Fran with a hug.

"I cannot believe you!" Erica exclaims, wrapping the arm that wasn't holding her baby around Camilla.

When the embrace ends, the brunette rolls her eyes, "Please, you can't expect to just elope and not celebrate it with your best friends. So congrats, Erica Hale."

Erica laughs a light, gleeful laugh, as she revels in the surprise and the excitement she got from hearing her new last name.

With that, the rest of the group begin to congratulate the couple and the party begins.

_\-------_

With the sun slowly lowering in the sky, the crowd at the Hale house begins to dwindle. Left there now is the happy couple and their daughter, Melissa and John, and the whole group of teenagers. Melissa holds Francesca in her arms, cooing at the child who is beginning to rub her eyes from sleepiness.

"She's going to sleep so well tonight," Erica comments, looking admiringly at her daughter. "All this excitement sure wore her out. Maybe this means we'll have a peaceful night."

Melissa looks up at the blonde and smiles, "Well, even if she doesn't, you and Derek don't have to worry about it. John and I are going to take little Franny for the night so all you kids can have some fun, and you and Derek can have a night for yourselves."

Erica looks at Melissa, pleasantly taken aback, "Melissa, no, we can't ask you to do that. This whole party and all the gifts has been enough. More than enough."

"Well you didn't ask me, I'm offering. Please, it's the least we can do. Every newly-married couple should get to spend at least one night alone. Plus, we already have her stuff loaded into our car. When we mentioned it to Derek earlier he was more than happy to hand her off. It's all taken care of sweetie," Melissa responds, her eyes shining.

Erica shakes her head in disbelief, "Thank you, Melissa. Really."

"Anytime, Erica," she nods, "but we'd better head out so Francesca can get to bed. Have fun tonight."

The woman gives Erica the chance to give Fran a kiss before she heads over to John, who has the keys to their car ready to go. They say goodbye to the rest of the group and head out.

"Let's move this party inside!" Camilla announces, making her way towards the house. "All the liquor is in there."

"Did you break into our house while we were gone or what?" Derek asks, shuffling into the house with everyone. Erica slides up next to him and wraps an arm around his waist.

Camilla turns around and looks at Derek, "Please, I have a key."

Derek looks at Erica, who smiles and hides her face, as they both knew she was the one who gave the key to Camilla. Shaking his head playfully, he leans down to plant a kiss on her forehead.

Camilla pulls two bottles out of the freezer and places them on the island, waggling her eyebrows.

"And now the real fun begins, ladies and gents."

Soon enough, everyone has a drink in their hand. Camilla serves everyone else first, and Scott watches as she makes her own drink, shocked when she pulls out wolfsbane and adds some to her cup.

The Alpha walks over to Isaac, who was talking to Jackson, and pulls him aside.

"Do you see what Camilla's doing to her drink?" he asks, his eyes wide as he watches the girl put away the chasers and liquor bottles, her drink made, wolfsbane and all.

Isaac laughs, shaking his head, "I know, Scott. But it's the only way she can really get a good buzz going without drinking a whole bottle in the span of ten minutes. She knows how much is enough."

Scott stares at the boy, bewildered, "She didn't put some in ours did she?"

"Not unless you asked her to. Don't worry, Scott, I know my girlfriend's badass status is a lot to handle. That's why she's my girlfriend and not yours," he replies, slapping Scott's back as he heads over to Camilla.

Scott takes in the girl's appearance: black leather skinny jeans, a Led Zeppelin shirt, and dark eye makeup. Yeah, he's pretty sure she was more badass than he would ever be. Shrugging, he takes a sip of his own drink and continues on with his night.

_\-------_

"What is he doing here?" Stiles slurs, pointing to Parrish before he hiccups.

"Nolan asked me to come," the older man replies, brushing past Stiles coolly. "This little shindig came together great, Lydia. The twinkle lights were a nice touch."

"You knew about this?" Stiles asks.

"I bounced some ideas off Nolan," Lydia smirks, feeling a buzz herself.

"And since Parrish lives with me…" Nolan trails off.

Scott raises an eyebrow, "He lives with you?"

"Since when?" Allison questions.

"Since he had to check out of his hotel because he had only rented it for a week," Nolan replies, "…and," Parrish adds, hoping to relieve some of the obvious tension at his intrusion, "considering most everyone here is drunk and, therefore without a way to their homes, I come bearing sobriety – and a car that comfortably seats five."

"We can go HOOOoOOOoooOOOME!" Stiles shouts, clearly falling back into his drunken stupor.

"Home with the hottie! Home with the hottie!" Camilla chants, eventually settling down and laying her head on Isaac's broad shoulder. He leans his head on top of her's and smiles warmly at no one in particular – just simply happy to have Camilla by his side once again.

Jackson, feeling slightly buzzed of the wolfsbane and vodka mixture he had enjoyed from Camilla, wraps an arm around Nolan and pulls the boy close, planting a line of kisses along his neck all the way up to his ear where he whispers, "Are you ready?"

"Ready for what?" Nolan giggles, a tingle going up and down his spine from his boyfriend's kisses.

"For the single most passionate life of your night – or, uh, the night of your life," Jackson chuckles.

"You guys… you gays…" Allison sighs from where she stands beside Scott, her arm wrapped around his waist tightly.

"If I throw up," Stiles says, "I bet it's  _whole_  slices of cake."

"You are something else, Stiles," Derek laughs

"Derek and Stiles sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I!" Erica sings.

Lydia laughs and throws her head against the blonde werewolf, laughing, "Funny, funny girl."

"You guys are all so messed up right now…" Scott notes.

"Clearly," Parris interjects, "I got here just in the nick of time."

"Our hero," Camilla and Nolan say in perfect unison, as the look at each other mouths agape before they dissolve into a fit of laughter.

_\-------_

Camilla pushes Isaac onto her bed, and as he lands, she begins stripping off her Zeppelin shirt, exposing a black bra. Leaning up on his elbows, Isaac watches her as she moves closer to him, lowering herself onto his lap.

Things continue to get hot and heavy as Isaac wraps a hand in Camilla's messy hair, bringing her face right in front of his. His lips move in quickly and Camilla surrenders to her boyfriend. Without warning, the boy flips Camilla onto her back, her legs still wrapped around Isaac's hips.

The kiss breaks, and the two look at each other, chests heaving.

"Take me now, Lahey," Camilla pants, reaching upwards to pull his face towards hers again.

Isaac allows it, but after a moment he pulls away. He sees the confusion in Camilla's eyes, but he also sees the pain that was there a month ago, when she told him what Spencer did to her.

"What's wrong, babe?" she questions, concerned and not ready to give up. She twines her fingers in his curls and attempts to pull him nearer. He doesn't let her, instead, he pries her legs from his body and gets off the bed.

"Okay, what the fuck?" Camilla says to Isaac's back, as he had turn his body so as not to face her. He runs a hand down his face, not sure of what to say. He hears her bed groan as she steps off of it, and within seconds, the girl is standing before him, her hands on her hips, waiting for an explanation.

"Camilla, I—"

She holds a finger up, stopping him, "No. No. I don't want to hear it, actually. We haven't had sex in God knows how long and I'm finally ready and you deny me? I don't see how in any world, in any universe that would make a shred of sense."

Isaac sighs and places his hands on Camilla's shoulders, holding on tight, knowing she might try to squirm away.

"Camilla, just listen to me," he responds, looking deep into her eyes. The girl clacks her tongue but waits for him to continue. "I don't think you are ready. It just… doesn't feel right yet."

As predicted, Camilla wrenches away from Isaac's grip and crosses the room to her desk chair, where she takes a seat and crosses her arms across her nearly-bare chest.

"Let me get this straight," she says as Isaac moves to take a seat on her bed. "You… think that I… am not ready for sex. Hmm okay. I forgot about the time I granted you access to all my thoughts and feelings and you know exactly what's going on in my mind! Silly me! You're so right, Isaac, you definitely know everything that's right for me, wow, thanks!"

Her sarcasm and anger float into Isaac's ears and he knows he's made a mistake. But that still didn't take away from his feeling that Camilla really isn't ready.

Camilla suddenly stands, stomping over to her shirt, abandoned on the floor near her bed. Isaac reaches out to touch her arm, but she jerks away. Shrugging on her shirt, she grabs her purse and phone and heads for the door.

Before she turns the knob, she looks back at her boyfriend, her eyes roaring, "Do NOT follow me."

_\-------_

Lydia walks through her front door and into the foyer, kicking off her heels and watching them slam into the cream painted wall with a thud. She laughs and then feels like she wants to cry, she stumbles forward and into the living room where she sees her mother curled up in a ball on the couch with a fuzzy purple blanket around her and the TV turned onto  _Fatal Attraction_.

The red haired girl swings around the side of the couch and plops down beside her mother.

"You're drunk, aren't you?" Natalie asks, as she picks up the remote and puts the TV on mute.

"As a skunk," Lydia giggles.

"How did everyone enjoy your party?"

"Oh, I could've put out four balloons and a piñata and they would've loved it. They all love me. Stiles – Stiles, man  _he_ loves me. He loves me a lot. He loves me like Ice loves Coco," Lydia beams, as Prada comes strutting into the room.

"He does indeed," Natalie agrees.

"And I love him. I love him so much… I love him so much – do you, do you think I should stay? Maybe I should stay… I should, shouldn't I? Stay here, I mean, for college. UCBH has one of the best science programs in the country… it's not as good as the program at Yale, but it is still  _very_ good and I… oh my god."

"Lydia, honey…"

"I can't… he… Stiles.. I… I'm stupid."

"Lydia…"

"I want to stay," Lydia laughs, fully knowing there was nothing funny in what she was saying, "I want to stay in Beacon Hills and be happy and in love with Stiles – I want to give up Yale… for him. For Stiles… for a boy…"

"Sweetheart, I know that you love him, but…"

"I know," the girl says, feeling a stinging in her eyes. A laugh tickles the back of her throat, "I… I have to… oh my god. Oh my god… I can't… I… I can't breathe. This is just absolutely ridiculous I can't… How could I be so… and he – I.. mom, I have to – this is just the most ridiculous thing I've ever done in my life."

"Lydia," Natalie whispers, sitting up to wrap her arm around her daughter as the younger girl begins to cry.

"I have to… break up with him."

_\-------_

"God bless Melissa!" Erica cheers, her arms flying out above her head as she settles back on the couch. Derek tosses a throw blanket across her naked body and slides next to her.

Erica snuggles into his body, bare skin on bare skin, breathing in the smell of sex, sweat, and lust.

"And you told her no at first," Derek shakes his head, teasing his wife.

Erica chuckles, pulling the thin, blue blanket tighter around her, "Yeah yeah yeah."

Derek wraps his arms around the blonde's body and kisses the top of her head.

Erica widens her eyes and she feels Derek's hard body against hers, "Whoa there. Ready to go again already?"

"Hey, my body is just making up for the deprivation its faced recently. Francesca the cock block."

Erica swats her husband, though a smile tugs at her lips, "Francesca, our DAUGHTER, has, I will admit, put a hold on our sex life, but what did you think having kids would mean? I would rather have her in my arms than sex with you every night."

Derek nibbles at her neck, "I'll try not to take that personally. But since we're baby-free for the night, we might as well make up for all the sexless nights, right?"

Erica moans, feeling the small tugs of his teeth on her sensitive skin.

"Yeah, you're right," she answers, flipping over to face her husband, letting the throw blanket slip to the floor.

_\-------_

Nolan doesn't hear the door to his bedroom open and shut, but Jackson does, sitting upright in bed, startling the boy who was almost asleep. He turns to look at the intruder, his body rigid, but he soon relaxes, seeing Camilla's face illuminated in the sliver of moonlight that evades the bedroom.

"Sup kiddos," she says in a huff, tossing her purse on the floor. In a flash, she rips the covers off of Jackson's body. Using her thumb she gestures for him to leave. "Up and at 'em, Jaws. I need some Nolan time."

Jackson, thankfully fully clad in a t-shirt and boxers, scoffs, his body shocked by the sudden blast of cool air.

"Camilla, are you nuts? Do you have any idea what time it is?" Jackson yells, stammering. Nolan takes a peek at the digital alarm clock on his nightstand. All he sees is a 4, his eyes were shit at night, but it confirms it is pretty late.

"C'mon, you should know by now how nuts I am. Get out, I'll stand here until you do," she replies, her eyes serious, her foot tapping.

Jackson looks over at his boyfriend, hoping Nolan would act in his favor and tell Camilla to go sleep on the couch until morning. But of course, all he sees is Nolan shrug.

"Unbelievable," Jackson mutters, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed and stepping out of the room.

Camilla rolls her eyes and takes his recently vacated spot, curling up as she pulls Nolan's comforter under her chin.  
"You'd think he'd be used to it by now," she says to her best friend with a small smile.

Nolan giggles, fully awake now, "I think both he and Jackson should always be on alert for a potential best friend emergency. We should have sleeping bags ready for them."

Camilla laughs, but after it fades, the room grows quiet.

"I stopped in Parrish's room. He was startled, but I told him I just went into the wrong room," the girl says sheepishly, not hiding her smile.

"And he believed it? Even though you have a key to the house and you've been here thousands of times?"

Camilla shrugs with delight, "Oh I think he knew I was just in there to get a good look at his shirtless bod. He even made it a point to walk me the ten feet to your actual bedroom so I wouldn't get lost again."

Nolan shakes his head at his best friend, but soon his eyes narrow on the brunette.

"So why are you here?" Nolan asks, knowing something had to have brought her over to the house so late.

"Isaac thinks I'm not ready to have sex with him yet," she tells him, rolling onto her back so that she looks up at the ceiling instead of into her friend's eyes.

Nolan's brow furrows, "Why does he think that?"

Camilla gulps, taking a moment to think of her answer.

"Because I was raped. By Spencer. And it's been hard to just go back to normal with Isaac, but I feel like he's tiptoeing around it and babying me. But I'm fine. I really am."

Nolan feels his veins ice up at Camilla's revelation. His head spins and his mouth goes dry.

"Camilla…"

"Don't. Please. Really, I am fine. I'm moving on. Isaac has helped me. But he still treats me like I'm glass. But I'm fucking steel, or whatever. I'm not going to break."

"I wish you would've told me, but I get why you didn't," Nolan says softly.

"I'm sorry I didn't. I just didn't want everyone to look at me like I'm some hurt little bird that can't fly. This sort of thing I wanted to handle on my own. And I have, but Isaac disagrees."

Nolan shrugs, "Maybe you should go see Spencer and he'd be happy," he states sarcastically.

Camilla flips onto her side, her eyes lit up.

"You know what, I think I should," she agrees, much to Nolan's disbelief.

"No, Camilla, I wasn't serious. That's um, that's—"

"No, you're right. What else can I do to show Isaac I'm fine? If I can look this rapist dead in the face and be fine, then he'll have no other choice but to see I'm okay," Camilla states, the wheels turning in her brain.

Nolan sighs, "Well, you've made up your mind, so I guess there's no stopping you."

Camilla smiles, "Thanks for understanding. Wanna go with?"

Nolan makes a tsking sound, "You know, I think I'm fine with brooding over my sister's death and never facing up to it, but you do you."

"Fair enough," she responds. "Well, goodnight then."

"Goodnight you dark and twisty girl."

_\-------_

"I love her," Stiles says as Scott takes the turn onto their street.

"I know ya do," Scott says, "you've been telling me how much you love her and in how many different positions you love her  _in._ I know more about your sex life than I would venture you know about it at this point."

"She's it for me, Scotty, she's the one. She's the love of my life."

"I know she is," Scott smiles.

"I can't leave her – but she… she's leaving me."

"I know she is."

"I don't want her to go, but she's got to go. She has to, ya know?"

Scott remains silent as he throws Stiles' Jeep into park in front of the house.

"And it hurts. Looking at her anymore… it hurts. It feels like I'm drowning and I'm just waiting for everything to go dark, because when she leaves… losing her is going to be worse than organ damage."

"Stiles…"

"What do I do?" the dark haired boy asks his friend, "What do I do? How do I… how do I lose her, Scott? What do I do?"

_\-------_

Camilla swears she can see her hand shake as she pulls open the door to Eichen House, not that she would ever admit it to anyone. If she ignores how fast her heart is racing, she can convince herself that she's okay.

She walks up to the front desk, which is surrounded by thick glass on all sides. A man leans against the wood, barely looking up as she approaches.

"Sign-in with your name and the patient you're seeing and you'll be buzzed his," he greets her robotically, and Camilla can only imagine how many times he's had to say those words.

"You don't need my ID or anything?" she asks as she takes hold of the pen and fills in the proper information.

"Are you here to cause any of our patients harm?" the man asks, looking up again, his eyes bored.

"Well, no."

"Then no," he replies in a monotonous tone.

Camilla raises her eyebrows and pushes the clipboard towards the small opening in the glass, signifying she had finished. The man glances at it before moving ever so slightly to push a button that is hidden from Camilla's view. A buzzer sound startles her, coming from a door to her left.

"The patient you're trying to see is on the third floor. Tell the orderly upstairs who you want to see and they'll send you to a visitation room. Have a nice day."

As the words leave his mouth, he does nothing more than turn back to a book he had been reading. Camilla shakes her head and readjusts her purse as she walks to the door and heads further into Eichen House.

Following her instructions, she slips into an awaiting elevator and thumbs the button for the third floor. The doors squeak shut, allowing Camilla to see a warped reflection of herself. She does her best to adjust her long baby blue sweater so that it falls down mid-thigh. Soon, she feels the elevator jolt to a stop, and the doors open up once again, revealing a small hallway that leads straight to a heavy, metal door.

She moves out of the elevator and into the small area. The elevator chugs away from her, leaving her trapped. She looks around at the dingy hallway, the dim light making the once-white walls and floors look extremely dirty. Soon, she spots a small speaker with a button on the wall next to the door.

Almost immediately after she pushes the small, gray button, a voice comes from the box.

"Patient name?" a woman's voice crackles.

"Um, Spencer Seeley," she croaks out.

The door buzzes open, making the same noise as the door from the lobby did. She pulls it open without effort, though she knew if she wasn't a werewolf it would have been more difficult.

Within moments, a woman in nurse scrubs whisks her away into a room to her right, but before she is ushered away, she sees doors upon doors on either side of her, and she knows that's where the patients are kept. Where Spencer is waiting.

The nurse gestures for her to enter a room, and she obliges. A table and two chairs are the only thing in the room. A metal half-circle is attached to the middle of the table. For handcuffs, she knows.

Without saying a word, the nurse leaves her, shutting the door. Camilla chooses one of the chairs and waits.

It isn't long before the door swings open, and in walks Spencer. She expects him to smirk, to find delight in her coming to visit. But what she sees instead is more jarring than if he would have blown her a kiss.

Spencer's eyes seem to be sunken into his skull. It's clear he lost at least ten pounds, maybe even more. All muscle he used to have is no longer visible. His movements are slow, and Camilla can see he must be extremely weak. His pale skin looks even more sickly compared to the white uniform he wears, which hangs off his bones, two sizes too big. The guard he walks in with pulls out the other chair, and Spencer takes a seat, slowly.

He still has yet to make eye contact with Camilla. Something that gives her satisfaction. She waits as the guard fixes Spencer's handcuffs in the metal ring on the table. He gives Camilla a nod and leaves the room, the door clicking shut behind him.

"Nothing to say, huh, big shot?" Camilla speaks, her voice shakier than she would have liked.

Spencer finally looks up at her, his eyes red, "I have so much to say. I just don't know where to begin."

"If you're going to apologize, save it. I—"

Spencer scoffs, an action that looks odd coming from someone so broken and frail.

"I have no apologies for anyone. The only person I feel sorry for is myself."

Camilla snorts, folding her arms across her chest, "How am I not surprised? You don't look so good though. Insane asylums still using shock therapy or what?"

Spencer flexes his jaw, his eyes hard, "You have no idea what it's like it here."

"Yeah, and I never will because I'm not a psychopath."

Spencer licks his lips, "And neither am I. We both know that. The only mistake I ever made was failing to see how much worse things are. Especially in here."

Camilla can't hide her confusion, she leans forward in her seat, interested.

"What do you mean?"

Spencer looks around the room, as if checking for cameras, "The supernatural. They're everywhere in here. And the staff knows. Everyone knows, but no one believes us, since we're all crazy."

Camilla keeps listening, Spencer's words captivating her.

"I thought you guys were the threat. But in all honesty, you all are nothing compared to the ones they have in here. You guys think you've seen horrible things, and maybe you have, but what I've seen, what I've experienced in here… You all are lucky. Eichen House has saved you from the worst."

A knock at the door makes both of them jump.

"Five minutes," a muffled voice says, probably the guard.

Spencer leans closer to Camilla, lowering his voice, "One of them has escaped. Ask Scott about Darachs. Then he'll know the danger."

"Wait, a Darach has escaped?"

Spencer nods, "And she's powerful. The things I've heard about her… You can't let her get away."

Camilla frowns, "Why should I believe you?"

"What do I gain from lying?"

The two stare at each other, neither one knowing what to say. Seeing Spencer in this state, so disheveled and weak, helps her overcome whatever fear of him she had left. But that fear is replaced by a new one. The threat of another enemy. He was right, there was nothing for him to gain. So maybe he was telling the truth.

"How long has she been out?" she asks after a moment.

"Hard to say. The staff tries to keep everything a secret here. But people talk. Some sources are less reliable than others… But I'd say it's been nearly a week," he tells her, his eyes shifting all around the room.

Without warning, the door opens and in walks the guard. Spencer's eyes go wild as the man comes for him, undoing the handcuffs briefly. Spencer is pulled to his feet as the guard begins to push him out of the room.

"Lillian. Lillian St. James," he stammers as the guard forces him away.

"Hey there, times up bud," the guard warns. Spencer is nearly out the door.

"She'll ruin it all. She'll ruin everything!" Spencer screams before he disappears from Camilla's sight. She doesn't see it, but she hears a thick punch land somewhere on Spencer's body, his groan echoing in the hallway.

Camilla listens as their footsteps get further away, but she doesn't make a move to get up. Instead, her mind races as she takes in the new information.

Another bad guy in Beacon Hills.

_\-------_


	48. Where Does the Good Go? (5x12)

Erica creeps down the stairs, trying to make her feet tread as lightly as possible. She's just finished rocking Francesca after almost an hour and the baby is finally asleep. Once she hits the last step, she pauses, listening closely for her daughter. She sighs with relief when all she hears is silence from upstairs.

From the main floor, however, Erica hears light chatter and laughing. She rolls her eyes and moves into her living room, joining her pack. Well, part of her pack. All of the werewolves plus Stiles. Lydia and Allison are having a girl's day, and Nolan is stuck at home completing placement exams for Dartmouth.

Eyes casually glance her way as she perches on one of the arms of the couch next to where Camilla sits.

"Are we ready to begin?" Derek asks the group impatiently.

Everyone nods, but before the pack meeting can begin, Erica speaks up.

"Just another quick reminder that my precious little angel is asleep right now and if any of you wake her up, she will turn into a soul-sucking demon and I will kill you for it."

Camilla chuckles and looks up at her blonde-haired friend, "You do realize that we are friends with an actual demon, right? And he's actually not that bad."

Erica scoffs, a smile tugging at her lips, "You know what I mean. I have nothing against Nolan's kind. What I do have a problem with is people who wake up my daughter before her nap is over. You've all been warned."

With that, the conversation turns to the reason the group is meeting today: Lillian St. James.

Derek claps his hands together and asks the group, "So, what do we got?"

Scott clears his throat and begins, "Well, Camilla and Nolan began looking further into Eichen House, but they couldn't get access to Lillian's files, which wasn't a surprise."

"I suggested hacking but someone opposed to that," Stiles scoffs, half-glaring at Scott.

"Buuuuuut, me being the smart little cookie I am, I checked out the visitor log to see if anyone came in to see little ol' Lillian St. James," Camilla adds on, smiling. "You guys remember that ugly Jennifer bitch?"

"I'm glad I don't," Erica mutters, trying to ignore her pang of jealousy.

"Well, Lillian was barely in Eichen House before she started getting regular visits from her," Camilla finishes, a satisfied look on her face.

Derek nods slowly, taking in the information.

Isaac takes the lead next, saying, "The visits were pretty regular, at least once a week. But then they just stop. Probably after Jennifer… you know. No one else has been in to visit Lillian since then."

Derek sighs, "Well, it's interesting, but what can do with that?"

"We keep looking," Jackson shrugs, looking upon the group for any other suggestions.

"I think that's all we can do at this point," Erica agrees, her hand playing with one of the strings on her pink sweatshirt.

Camilla looks around, then announces, "Okay, meeting over! Everyone keep looking and searching and whatnot. Good job werewolves and Stiles. Time to go enjoy the June sun." She wastes no time as she lifts herself off the couch, pulling Isaac along with her. Her black shorts ride dangerously high in the back, not that she cares.

"Bye friends!" she calls out, though not too loudly as Erica's warnings are still fresh in her mind.

Erica slides from the arm of the couch to the couch itself, taking Camilla's spot. She closes her eyes for a moment before opening them again and speaking.

"You know, Scott, maybe turning her wasn't such a bad idea. Our meetings are a lot shorter with her around," she states, glancing over at the Alpha with a pleased look.

Scott shakes his head and chuckles, "Thanks for the approval, Erica."

"Anytime," she smiles back. Derek moves from his seat to the spot next to Erica's on their couch, and in one quick movement, drapes an arm around the girl.

"Well, thanks to Camilla's down-to-business attitude, Erica and I have some time to ourselves before Fran wakes up, so get the hell out of my house," the dark-haired man demands plainly, a smile on his face. Despite his facial expression, Stiles, Scott, and Jackson all knew if they didn't leave in the next thirty seconds, they would regret it.

"See ya!" Jackson replies quickly, hopping out of his chair and mainlining for the door. The other two follow his lead as they mumble their goodbyes and exit the Hale house.

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

Lydia opens her mouth to speak and closes it before she's able to get a word out. After a moment, she opens it again only to shut it once more, her eyebrows come together and a frown spread across her lips as her mind whirs – trying to find the best way to phrase what she wants to say.

"Lydia," Allison begins as she tucks her hair behind her ear, "sweetie, we have been sitting here for twenty minutes. What's going on?"

"I… I don't know," Lydia responds, frowning harder.

"You don't know?"

"I do know. I do. Only… I don't know. Or I don't want to know, rather."

Allison sighs, "You need to clarify."

"It's Stiles," Lydia states.

"It's Stiles?"

"Yes."

"Okay… what about Stiles?"

"I have to break up with him," Lydia responds, "he and I… we have to end things. Sooner than later and I just–"

"You're just having an aneurysm?

"Excuse me?"

Allison raises her eyebrows at her best friend, "Lydia. This is Stiles we're talking about. The boy who has been in love with you longer than Ross has been in love with Rachel. He's pathetically in love with you, he's like that guy who tried to kill the President to impress Jodie Foster pathetically in love with you – and you want to break up with him?"

"Yes," Lydia says, swallowing hard.

"Why?"

"Because… being with him makes me lose myself. And I don't want to stop being… me," Lydia says as tears well in her eyes, "he's staying here and I'm going to Yale, but… I don't want to. I want to stay here too. I want to give up Yale to be with him and I… I can't do that because that isn't me."

"But…"

"No," Lydia whispers, wiping away a tear, "no. I can't make excuses to say with him. I can't have a but, I had all sorts of buts with Jackson… and with Aiden… and I don't want that with Stiles. I love him too much to have a but."

Allison opens her mouth to speak and instantly shuts it. Instead she stands up and walks over to where Lydia sits on her bed and wraps her arm around the girl.

"I love Stiles… I love myself more," Lydia says shakily. "I love myself more."

_\-------_

Jackson slams the boy against the door. Hard. A gasp escapes his lips at the impact and just when he catches his breath, Jackson connects his mouth to Nolan's then in a moment of passion and slowly begins to kiss his way down the boy's neck. The werewolf pauses the kissing briefly to rip the half-demon's button down shirt open, the buttons making a soft thumping noise on the floor.

"Hey," Nolan sighs, "you ruined my shirt."

Jackson laughs in response.

"I loved this shirt," Nolan says as Jackson begins to unbutton the boy's pants.

"You love me."

"As much as I loved this shirt?"

"More than," Jackson responds as he slips his hands down the front of Nolan's black boxer briefs.

The auburn-haired boy gasps and breathes, "I… I don't know if that's true."

Half an hour later the two boys come apart. Nolan dropping down onto the right side of his bed, breathless, sweat glistening over his forehead. He smiles and a laugh falls from his lips as he says, "I do love you more than I love that shirt. That shirt never got me off like that."

"And aren't you lucky to have me forever?" Jackson responds, his hand running over a hickey on his abs that he knew was slowly disappearing with each passing second.

"Forever?"

"The way I see it, once we get through college and I get done with med school we'll set up shop in the city or we'll migrate back to California – someplace bigger than Beacon Hills; LA or San Francisco, someplace you can get a good writing job and I'll work at the hospital and then somewhere along the way we'll get married and…"

"Married?"

"…and maybe we'll adopt kids or we can convince Camilla to carry a baby for us. I'm sure if you asked she would say yes, and if she donated the egg our kids and her kids would be related which would be kind of cool and…"

"I have to go," Nolan whispers. He sits up, feeling dizzy.

"Where are you going?" Jackson asks, "Nolan, babe, it's the middle of the night."

Nolan gets out of bed, his bare feet sticking to the hardwood floor. He hurries to his dresser and grabs his favorite, old Dartmouth shirt out of the top drawer and yanks the jeans Jackson had removed not that long ago, forgoing underwear, and hurries out of his room. The boy darts to the stairs, passing a shirtless and confused Parrish as he goes down the steps.

Once he's downstairs and has his slip-on Converse he's outside and at his car and driving down the road.

The windows are down and the cool summer air is hitting him hard, calming him somehow. On the radio he hears  _Everywhere_  by Fleetwood Mac and the calm feeling he had begins to feel eerie.

He drives past what was once Roxy Daribon's house and eventually takes a corner and goes past the lacrosse field and then Beacon Hills High as the song changes to  _Heart Out_ by The 1975 and he realizes it isn't the radio playing, but a mix CD that Jackson had made him as a graduation present.

The stereo goes off then.

He takes another corner and his car slows and stops in front of 616 Holden Drive. He yanks the keys out of the ignition and hurries up the sidewalk and onto the front porch of the white house, spotting the small ceramic deer that he knew had a spare key attached to the bottom of it, sitting beside a pot with red Gerber daisies in it.

Once inside the house, the Hayes boy wastes no time in getting up the stairs and to the familiar white door. He tosses the door open and gasps when he sees Isaac shoot up beside Camilla. The curly haired werewolf rolls his eyes and nudges Camilla who groans, her eyes still shut, and asks, "What?"

"Nolan," Isaac responds, getting out of bed. He slowly walks toward the door and says to Nolan, "You have twenty minutes," before he exits the room, closing the door behind him.

"What's going on?" Nolan hears Ron ask out in the hall.

"Nolan crisis," Isaac responds.

Sighing with relief, Ron says, "Oh. Good."

"What's wrong?" Camilla asks, reluctantly sitting up in her bed. The girl's hair is pulled back into a sloppy ponytail and her face looks blotchy from having been so hard asleep, but that doesn't deter Nolan from climbing into bed next to her.

"He wants," Nolan begins, "to marry me."

"Who? Jonathan Taylor Thomas?" Camilla jokes.

"No, Chad Michael Murray."

"My second guess."

"Jackson. Jackson wants to marry me. He has plans – plans for way, way into the future. Plans that include  _you_ carrying our child."

"Excuse me?"

Nolan laughs, "Yeah. He was talking about you being our surrogate after he graduates med school and I get a job at a newspaper or something and I just… that's a big commitment and I would be a terrible father. An awful father, and do you know why? It's because  _I_ had a horrible father."

"So the problem here is that…" Camilla trails off, trying to keep up with her best friend's rambling.

"He wants to marry me. Jackson Whittemore wants to marry  _me_."

"And this is bad?"

"Very bad. It's the Hindenburg and Chernobyl."

"That is bad."

"And so he says all this stuff about marriage and kids and I just got the hell out of there."

"Probably a good idea. If he would've started talking about retirement plans before you had gotten out of there, this conversation would have involved me asking you to choose between a gun and cannoli."

"Camilla. Come on."

"What? The Godfather applies to any situation."

"I need you to be serious here."

The dark-haired girl sighs and tucks a stray hair behind her ear, "Alright. This is me being serious."

"Seriously?"

"Yes. Go."

"I am freaking out. Freaking out. I'm Charlie Sheen in his tiger blood rant freaking out. I love Jackson, I do. But marriage? Marriage? Holy matrimony. That is… intense. He and I are on and off to the point that even Katy Perry is tired of us and then he goes and throws marriage talk at me, and I am most likely freaking out about this for no reason. He was probably just talking, but… marriage?"

"Do you want to break up with him?" Camilla asks, solemnly.

"No. We're only going to be four and half hours apart next year so I think that long distance is doable for us, but at the same time… am I ready to be married to him? Do I want to be married to him? He's my first… everything. First kiss, first boyfriend, first love. What if I go to college and I put myself into the perfect little Jackson shaped box and I miss the opportunity to be with a really great guy because I'm limiting myself to him? I don't want to deny myself anything because I'm so hopelessly devoted to Jackson Whittemore."

"That makes sense."

"And," Nolan continues, "what if he goes to college and he meets some perky perfect girl in one of his anatomy classes or one of his lacrosse teammates is this strong jawed, muscular hunk a-hunk of burning love and he wants to end things? I don't want to be crushed if things don't work out. I don't want to be like Jason Segel in  _Forgetting Sarah Marshall_. I don't want Jackson to be my Sarah Marshall."

"Do you want to know what I think?"

"Desperately."

"I think you should live in the now. Don't worry about the future. Don't worry about Jackson finding some perfect little co-ed, don't worry about you finding some gorgeous poly-sci guy. Think about now. Think about how great it'll be and how great it is to be with him right now. There's no reason to put the cart before the horse here, kid. Just… be with him. See where it goes. Paint with all the colors of the wind."

"But I'm scared, Camilla. I'm scared that if things keep going the way they're going that I'll end up getting a bad haircut and start selling myself to a bunch of French dockworkers while singing  _I Dreamed A Dream_ off key when we reach our eventual demise."

"You think you guys have an eventual demise? Why?"

"Our history. We're good for a while and then… the British are coming or the red hairs are coming and suddenly things are bad and we're broken up and I end up kissing Stiles."

"What?" Camilla asks, her eyes bulging with excitement.

"What?"

"You kissed Stiles? Our Stiles? The pack's Stiles?"

Nolan shakes his head, "That's not the point."

"No, but it sure is interesting. When did you kiss Stiles? Did he kiss you back? Did you guys make the boys over at SeanCody jealous?"

"It was when he and Lydia were broken up and Jackson and I were broken up and it was just a kiss. Or two kisses. A minor makeout and it just… there wasn't… anyway, it was nothing major and he and I more or less vowed never to speak about it again."

"Call Olivia Pope because we have a scandal on our hands," Camilla laughs.

"Can we focus here?"

"Right. Right. We have Jackson problems."

Nolan runs a hand through his hair and says, "I'm scared."

"I know you are."

"Marriage is… a lot."

"It is."

"What do I do?"

_\-------_

"So you invited the entire pack," Danny says as he takes a seat beside Jackson on the porch swing. "I distinctly remember telling you that this was supposed to be you and Nolan and Camilla and Isaac. End of list. And yet somehow the entire pack is here. Care to explain?"

Jackson takes a drink of the iced tea Camilla had spiked for him and replies, "I am honestly very sorry."

"Last time all of you crazy kids were here I ended up with a watermelon covered kitchen, a girl pushed into my pool, a guest room torn apart by what I can only assume was a tsunami and a hurricane fornicating, as well as some six-foot monstrosity lurking around every corner," Danny recounts, "so do you understand why I didn't want you all here again?"

"Yasmeen was asking for it?" Jackson defends with a giggle.

Across the pool Nolan stands between Isaac and Camilla, pulling a cherry out of a bowl and popping it in his mouth before he says, "Look at him, talking to Danny. He's probably telling him all about what a scary, damaged dump truck I am."

"I get the feeling they're just talking," Isaac says, patting Nolan on the shoulder before he walks away to talk to Scott.

"You haven't talked to him about the whole future days thing? Still? It's been a week." Camilla frowns, sipping from her own spiked lemonade. "Do you want to know the problem?"

"Actually, no. I don't like problems. I avoid them when I can and I don't like people pointing them out to me. Thank you though, for asking," Nolan responds with an overly sweet smile.

"The problem is that you're both so used to just ending things when the going gets tough that your relationship is just a dead woman walking."

"Why a woman?"

"Your relationship  _has_ to be a man?"

"It does consist of two men…"

"Two men who are have poorer communication skills than Helen Keller."

Nolan scowls, "Uncalled for. Helen Keller did nothing to provoke such a hateful joke, the woman went to Harvard. Paris Gellar didn't even go to Harvard and she had all of her faculties."

"Don't bring Paris into this," Camilla frowns.

"Can we just drop this?"

"No. Not until you agree to work things out with Jackson. Don't just keep the guy in limbo. Either end it with him or smooth things over."

"Thank you, Dr. Ruth, for that hot tip. However, since this really concerns Jackson and I…"

"Oh no. No, no, no. You don't get to make this into a you and him thing – you come to me in the middle of the goddamn night in full on Amber Alert mode and ask for my opinion and my help and here I am, trying to give it to you, and you want to turn it away. That's not how this works."

Across the pool, Jackson and Danny sit listening intently. The dark-haired boy rolls his eyes and says, "We all should have guessed that those two would come to blows someday over you, Jackson."

"Hey," the werewolf protests, "this is so not about me."

"Yes it is," Isaac says with a smirk as he comes walking up to the two sitting boys.

Nolan runs a hand through his hair, getting more frustrated with each passing second. The half-demon is abundantly aware that Jackson is listening, "Camilla…"

"No! Nolan, you're being an idiot. What is the point of prolonging this if it's just doomed to end? Stop stretching it out. Cut the Clarence Thomas routine and just say something to him. Settle this."

"Uh, guys," Stiles says, cautiously approaching the bickering duo, "I know that this is your thing, and I apologize for butting in like this, but this is supposed to be a fun, Fourth of July thing and you're all kind of bringing the party down."

"Well then call Hannah Montana, Stiles," Nolan says, not looking at the boy, "get her to come pump up the party. Camilla and I are in the middle of something."

"Yeah, you're in the middle of reenacting a scene from Dynasty," Stiles quips.

Camilla sighs, "Look, Nolan, I just think that it would be better for everyone involved if things got ironed out. I don't want to fight with you. I just want what's best."

"And what's best for me – right now – is to just ignore this," Nolan huffs.

"I don't like it when you guys fight," Stiles mumbles.

"Well, I don't like Mondays. Unfortunately they come around eventually," Nolan snaps back.

Stiles' eyes widen and he takes a step back, putting his hands up, "And on that note…" the plaid-wearing boy says before he walks away.

"Maybe you should kiss him again. Let him know there aren't any hard feelings," Camilla suggests. "And hey, they do say third times the charm."

"Can we drop this? This Jackson thing? At least until he's out of earshot?" Nolan asks sourly.

"Yes. Want me to make you a Camilla Iced Tea. It has tea and vod–"

"Make mine a triple, please," Nolan asks, handing the girl a glass.

Stiles makes his way into Danny's house and spots Allison and Erica in the kitchen. He walks up to the brunette and the blonde and says, "Nolan and Camilla are outside acting out Medea and I just tried to break it up and got yelled at."

"Who yelled at you?" Erica asks with a laugh.

"Camilla probably," Allison chuckles.

"It was Nolan, actually."

"Nolan? Really? That's surprising," Erica says, tossing a blonde curl over her shoulder, "I was pretty sure you were his second favorite. Right after Camilla, obviously."

"Anyway, have either of you seen Lydia?"

"Uh," Allison stammers, "she texted me a little bit ago that she wasn't coming… something about her grandma and her grandma's girlfriend coming to town or something…"

"Really? She didn't mention anything like that to me… actually she's been a little flaky with the responses lately… Hey, has she said anything to you? About me? Or has she been acting weird with you?" the boy asks.

"N-no. She hasn't," Allison responds.

Erica narrows her gaze and notes that Allison's heartrate increases with each second Stiles is in the room. When the plaid-wearing boy eventually shrugs and heads back outside Erica leans on the kitchen island and asks flatly, "Spill the beans, Argent. Are Lydia and the perfect twelve-year-old over?"

Allison gulps before muttering, "Crap…"

_\-------_

Deaton sets down a metal tool, which makes a high-pitched clinking noise on the table as he does. Scott watches as the man wracks his brain for ideas.

"And you say that your friend, Camilla, heard this from another Eichen House patient?" he questions, his eyes thoughtful but curious.

Scott nods, "A patient that's not actually crazy. Maybe a little homicidal towards supernaturals, but not incapable of providing accurate information."

Deaton frowns, "Are you sure? This man went to the length of torturing and nearly killing this girl, why wouldn't he lie to her? Not only that, but she's also a supernatural being herself, now. That could make him all the more angry."

"I don't know how he would know that, but—"

"You'd be surprised how news travels through Eichen House," Deaton shakes his head. "Now, I'm not doubting that this Lillian person could pose a threat to Beacon Hills. Eichen House definitely has its roles in the supernatural life, so I'm sure this Spencer could potentially be more privy to information than you and I. I just don't know how much weight we can put behind his words."

Scott sighs, understanding Deaton's concern. The older man looks at the boy with a bit of sympathy, and his facial expression softens.

"I don't mean to dismiss the possibility, Scott. I hope you don't think that's what I'm doing."

Scott shakes his head, "No, I get it. It makes sense. I just don't want to overlook anything and have it come back to haunt me. Even though I'll be sticking around Beacon Hills, not many of my friends will be, and if something were to happen I—"

"I think you would do just fine," Deaton offers. He pauses for a moment before going on, "Scott, I truly admire how much you have grown since I first met you. Not only as an Alpha, but as a person. You are much stronger than I could have anticipated. You're no longer the boy who always questions himself, you're a man now. And I have faith that you can hold down the fort when your pack disperses."

Scott smiles at Deaton's words.

"Deaton, I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for me. I don't think I've ever really said thank you…"

The man laughs, "You have, plenty of times. But, going back to the problem here… didn't you mention having an ally on the police force?"

"Ben?" Scott asks.

Deaton nods, "I think your best option here is to have him look into records, see if he can find anything on Lillian and/or Jennifer. They're connected somehow, I'm sure there's a clue somewhere."

Scott sighs, "The only question is, will we find it before anything bad happens?"

_\-------_

"Okay, can't you totally see me wearing this maxi dress while walking along the beach with my hot husband and cute little baby?" Erica gasps, holding up a beautiful teal dress that made her eyes pop even though she wasn't even wearing it yet.

Camilla clacks her tongue, "Girl, yes. Buy it."

"Buyin' it!" Erica cheers, draping it over her arm and moving along.

The girls browse the boutique in silence before Erica speaks again.

"You know, I'm really excited to get the hell out of Beacon Hills. Is that wrong of me?"

Camilla furrows her brow as she examines a lace camisole, "Why would that be wrong?"

Erica sighs, flipping through blouses without paying much attention to them, "Because, my whole life is here. I went from epileptic freak to hot werewolf chick to dead girl to not-dead girl to orphan to Derek Hale's girlfriend to teen mom to Mrs. Hale… Everything..."

Camilla places the camisole back on the rack as she turns to her friend.

"If there's one thing I know, it's that sometimes leaving places behind can be the best thing that's ever happened to you," she tells her, her voice serious. "I left the only place I knew, the place that I lived with my mother and the place where I lost her. There were so many memories wrapped up there and I was scared to leave them behind, but I never would have met any of you if I didn't."

"Yeah, but what if I've already met everyone I need to? I have a husband, best friends… I don't really need anything else," Erica argues, her bottom lip sticking out.

Camilla gives the blonde a small glare, "That might be true, but you guys need to start over. Yeah, Beacon Hills is where everything began, but it's not supposed to be where everything ends. You guys need to make memories somewhere else, because there are already too many here."

With that, Camilla moves to another rack of clothes, signifying the conversation is over. Erica shakes her head and smiles at her friends' boldness, but appreciates it at the same time.

And maybe she's right, Erica thinks.

_\-------_

Nolan lays in his bed, his cat nuzzled up beside him purring loudly. Rain pelts the big bay window and is the only other sound Nolan can hear. It's calming and it's sad and it matches Nolan's mood perfectly.

There's a tap on his door then, and he rolls over to see Parrish standing in his doorway, wearing a shirt for once, "There's someone at the door for you," the man says before he disappears into the hall.

Reluctantly Nolan hauls himself out of bed and starts to walk down the stairs, getting more and more tired with each step. When he finally reaches the foyer, he is unsurprised to find Jackson standing in front of the front door, waiting for him.

"Hey," Jackson says softly.

"Hey," Nolan replies.

The two stand in silence then. Nolan looking everywhere but at Jackson and Jackson looking nowhere but at Nolan. The werewolf take a step forward and hears Nolan's heart quicken, making his own heart throb.

"How've you been?"

"Just dandy. You?"

"I miss you," Jackson answers, "a lot. And I don't totally know what I did to earn the Charlie Chaplin act from you, but whatever it is… I'm sorry, Nolan. I am very sorry. I didn't mean to… hurt you or piss you off. I-I'm sorry."

Nolan looks at Jackson now and swallows hard, "You didn't… you didn't do anything, Jackson. This is a me thing. It's all me."

"You're really giving the 'It's not you, it's me' speech to me right now? When did we turn into a 90s-sitcom couple?"

"Are you Jamie or Paul?" Nolan jokes.

"Are you breaking up with me? Is that what this is? Am I just not getting it because in the past there's been something much more concrete to notify me that we're over and now you just… don't want to be with me anymore? Or don't love me anymore…?"

"Jackson, I…"

"Because if you want to break up, that's fine. Well, it isn't fine, but if that's what this is… at least let me know, would you?" Jackson pleads, his hand reaching up to rub the back of his neck nervously.

"Jackson…"

"I just.. God dammit, Nolan, you and I have been through so much. There was Fitz and demons and Lydia and Camilla disappearing and your dad leaving and your sister dying and… now you're just done and I don't get it. What the hell happened?"

"Jackson. You want to marry me."

"W-what?"

"The other night. You were talking about marrying me and that… scared me. I got scared. It was like Neve Campbell seeing Ghostface for the first time. I was scared."

"This is because I see us getting married?" Jackson questions, his brows coming together.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Why…?"

"Why does that scare you?"

"Because…" Nolan frowns, as he looks for the words, "because I… I don't know if I can believe that this is forever. That you and I are the tell-all end-all. That we're Jerry Maguire and Dorothy Boyd – yes, you may have had me at hello, but… we have had our fair share of goodbyes. And neither of us knows what love is, Jackson."

"That's not true," Jackson interjects, "I know what love is. I love you."

"And I love you, but Jackson… this is puppy love. We're a Paul Anka song. We are young and we want to be in love so bad, but what if somewhere along the way we both just… I don't want to wake up in a year or two years and realize that this was just a temporary thing. That you and I were just so desperate to be in love that we could give Susan Mayer a run for her money."

"You gonna wrap yourself in a towel and trip over a bush, now?" Jackson asks, making a joke without the slightest intention of getting a laugh.

"You have to admit that neither of us really knows what else is out there."

"I do," Jackson says, "I do know what else is out there. I've had other things. I've had a Lydia and a Fitz and neither of them compare to you. It's you. I love you."

"Jackson…"

"And don't you see? When it's you or Fitz or Lydia, I choose you. I love you, Nolan."

Nolan takes a step toward Jackson, placing a hand on the werewolf's cheek, "But you're it for me. Jackson, you're my first love. You're an epic love, yes, but you're also all I've got. And from the sounds of it, I'm your first  _real_ love, so I'm all you've got – and I don't think it's fair to either of us to try and end it all here."

Jackson places his hand on top of Nolan's, "So you want to break up."

"I don't want to stop being with you," Nolan replies, "I love you, Jackson. I love you… so much that it makes my teeth hurt, but I think that when we go our separate ways that maybe we ought to… we should see what happens."

"See what happens?"

"If you go to Syracuse and you meet some beautiful girl and you fall in love with her I don't want to stand in your way of being with her. And if I go to Dartmouth and some guy on the newspaper and I hit it off I don't want to have to hit the skids because of you. If you and I are meant to be…"

"…and we are," Jackson frowns.

Rolling his eyes Nolan says again, "If you and I are meant to be, we will be. Look at us now. It sort of seems like something always brings us back together. I want to be with you up until the second we leave and when we come back for Thanksgiving if we're both unattached I want to be with you again, but… why not leave it up to fate?"

"There's no such thing as fate," Jackson argues.

Nolan laughs and leans forward and kisses the boy, "There's no such thing as werewolves."

_\-------_

"I don't know if this is good news or bad news, or even news at all. All I know is Ben sounded urgent on the phone," Scott says to Derek as the man walks into Scott's house.

"And you called me because…"

Scott throws his hands in air, "Because you're leaving and I'm the Alpha and I'm not sure that I'll be good enough."

Derek chuckles and leans against Scott's dining room table, his arms folded across his chest.

"And that's funny to you?" Scott questions, his voice jumping up an octave.

"I wouldn't say funny… maybe humorous."

"That's literally the same thing," Scott states.

"Well, it doesn't matter. What matters is you've been the Alpha for a long time. You don't need me anymore. If you haven't noticed, I've been a little wrapped up in my family as of late and you've been doing just fine on your own."

Scott shakes his head, "Only because nothing bad has happened. And wouldn't it just be perfect timing for a storm to hit? When everyone is about to leave and I'm one of the only ones that can clean up the mess?"

Before Derek can respond, Scott's doorbell chimes, announcing Ben's arrival. Scott sighs loudly before moving to answer the door.

Ben smiles gravely at the boy when the door swings open. Scott notices he's in his sheriff's uniform and wonders if he's supposed to be on duty, which makes him nervous. What's so important that he had to leave his shift to share?

"Come on in," Scott gestures towards the dining room, and soon the three men are all in the same room.

"Well fellas, I haven't got much time, but I wanted you to know I found something," Ben begins, tossing a manila file folder onto the table. He gestures to it, nonverbally allowing them to open it up.

Derek begins shuffling through the papers inside, his eyes scanning each page. Scott watches anxiously as he does. After a few moments, Ben speaks again.

"So I searched the name Jennifer Blake first, but didn't find much of anything other than some local reports, which I was anticipating. Same thing for Lillian St. James. The only thing I found on her was a record of her patient status at Eichen House."

Ben waits a few seconds before continuing, "Once that was done, I tried searching Jennifer's real name, Julia Baccari. I got a few hits on that, but she disappeared around the same time Jennifer came out of the woodwork, as to be expected. But I did some more digging, and found out Julia had a sister."

Derek looks up then, his eyes meeting Ben's.

"Lillian?" he guesses. Ben nods.

"Only her real name is Lauren Baccari. And, like Julia, she disappeared once Lillian started up."

Scott paces a bit, his mind whirring.

"Jennifer, er, Julia, was a Druid before she turned Darach… Could Lillian-?"

"Be a Druid?" Ben finishes for him. "That's my best guess."

Derek's forehead creases, and he sets the file folder aside, "But why was she locked up in Eichen House?"

"Maybe she turned into a Darach too?" Scott guesses.

Derek shakes his head, "No, if she did, I would guess Jennifer would have used her to help with taking down the Alpha pack."

"Could she maybe just be a regular human?" Ben asks.

"Perhaps," Derek answers. "I honestly have no idea."

"So, we're looking for a woman who's possibly human, possibly a Druid?" Ben questions, his face looking a bit amused.

"Pretty much," Scott replies. "And we don't know if she knows her sister is dead."

Derek sighs, "So she could be looking for revenge."

_\-------_

The doorbell is ringing throughout the house and, instinctively, Prada begins to bark. Lydia sighs and sets down  _Ulysses_ beside where she sits on the couch, tosses off the teal colored blanket that had been covering her short-short clad legs and heads to the front door. The girl has her hand around the handle of the door to open it just as the doorbell rings again.

On the other side stands Stiles, a smile on his face and two bags in his hand. Hesitantly the girl opens the door and instantly Stiles is talking, "I have  _The Notebook, A Walk to Remember, The Longest Ride,_ and  _Titanic."_

"Stiles…" Lydia says softly.

"I also have enough Chinese food to feed the Huns, but I figure since I have a stomach deeper than the abyss the Titanic is stuck in that it shouldn't be a problem," the boy continues on, not hearing his red-haired counterpart.

"Stiles…"

"Oh! And I brought some cake from that little bakery you like. Chocolate with raspberry filling, your favorite."

"Stiles!"

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing?"

The boy furrows his brow, "Well, uh, ya know… you and I haven't been communicating very well – or at all – lately and I figured that a movie night and lots and lots of Chinese food and some heavy cuddling and maybe a few kisses might help smooth things over."

Lydia frowns, "Stiles, I…"

"And I know that it's probably because I did something stupid – the reason you're not talking to me, and I want you to know that while I don't know what  _exactly_ it is that I did that was so ridiculously stupid, I am so sorry. Maybe I shouldn't have bragged so hard to Scott about you and I sealing the deal, but, anyway. Yeah, I'm sorry."

"Stiles," Lydia says, looking deeply into his warm brown eyes, "sweetie…"

"No."

"What?"

"No."

"What?"

"No. We aren't doing this," Stiles says, maneuvering past Lydia into the house. He quickly sets the food and movies down onto the stairs and turns around to face the girl again.

"We aren't doing what?"

"Breaking up. That's what this is. I  _know_ that's what this is because that is exactly the look that a beautiful girl like you would give some putz like me right before she pulls the trigger and breaks his h-heart. Right before she breaks his heart. Breaks my heart."

"Stiles I don't want to…"

"Why?"

"Why?" Lydia asks.

"What happened? What changed? Why are you Dear Johning me?"

Lydia runs her hand through her hair and shuts the front door, knowing this is the moment she had been waiting for, "It's because I love you."

"You love me…? And you're breaking up with me? Oh, of course. That makes perfect sense. You gonna tell me  _The Clone Wars_ was the best Star Wars movie next?"

"I love you so much Stiles. So much. So, so much. So much that I don't… I feel like… I can't leave."

"What?"

"I can't leave. I can't go to Yale. I can't prosper the way I need to prosper because the very idea of being with you and leaving and not being able to see you and kiss you and be held by you is tearing me up inside and I don't want to be that girl. The girl who loves her boyfriend so much that she can't be herself. The girl who loves her boyfriend so much that she's miserable at her dream college and ends up transferring to another school, a good school – just as good as the school she was at – just so that she can be with her boyfriend. I don't want to be that girl… and being with you, loving you as much as I do is turning me into that girl."

"I…"

"And I know that you would be happy with me being across the country and being with me because you love me more than I could probably ever dream of loving anything, but Stiles I can't do that to you either. I can't be across the country and have you pining for me. I don't want you to turn into a Douglas Fir."

Stiles swallows hard, "So we have to break up?"

"That's what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to break up with you."

Stiles nods his dark head and stands, silent… stoic. He licks his lips a few times and eventually nods his head and says, "Okay."

"Okay?" Lydia questions.

"It's okay."

"How? How is it okay?" Lydia asks, the sting of tears hitting her hard.

"Because I can wait," Stiles smiles. It's a sad smile, but a smile just the same.

"Didn't you hear me? I can't make you wait for me. I'm not going to do that to you."

Stiles takes a step towards the girl he loves and wraps his arms around her, "You don't have to because I know we're going to be together. We can break up, if that's what you want, but Lydia… your name is tattooed on my heart. You're the only girl for me. It's you, it's always going to be you. I know we're going to be together."

The girl shakes her head, "You don't know that."

Stiles just shrugs, "Call me an optimist then," he says right before he kisses her.

_\-------_

Erica stands outside of the Hale house, her eyes staring up at the massive beast. She isn't ready to say goodbye.

Before she can begin to comprehend her leaving the house she had began to raise her daughter in, Derek's heavy footsteps on the porch signal that the last box of the house is in his arms and ready to be placed in their moving truck. She cuts her gaze to her husband and watches out of the corner of her eye as he places the cardboard into the last available slot in the truck.

With two slaps on the hood, the truck driver pulls away from the house, on its way to their new home in San Francisco.

Within a few steps, Derek joins the blonde and rests a hand on her hip.

"You ready babe?" he asks softly, turning to look at her.

Erica is happy that she chose to put on her sunglasses before now, so she is able to hide the tears welling up in her eyes.

"Yeah, just give me a sec," she responds, almost kicking herself for letting her voice shake a bit as she gives her reply.

Derek turns to step in front of Erica, placing his hands on her shoulders, "Erica, are you okay?"

Erica nods slowly, biting her lip.

"Babe, c'mere," he says to her, pulling her body into his and holding her tight.

She doesn't sob, but steady, hot tears flow from her eyes.

"It just happened so fast," she reveals to him, her voice calmer now that she isn't bottling her emotions inside of her. "I feel like I didn't even say goodbye."

Derek pulls a few inches away so he can look at her face. Laughing, he says, "Don't even act like you haven't been going into each room of the house this week and saying goodbye to everything. I know you babe."

Erica laughs too, lifting a hand up to wipe tears off her cheeks. Derek bends to kiss her forehead.

"If you're really not ready, we can go back in," he offers.

Erica takes a deep breath and shakes her head, "No. It's now or never. We said goodbye to the house, to our friends… Our families…"

Derek smiles solemnly at the mention of all those the two had lost.

Erica looks up at her husband and smiles, genuinely.

"I'm ready to start the rest of my life with you," she tells Derek happily.

The dark-haired man smiles and grabs his wife's hand, "Let's do it, then."

_\-------_

Stiles sits at the end of the bar, a glass of Jack Daniel's in his hand. He sighs and takes another sip, the whiskey burning all the way down. But the burning feels good. It's a good distraction from what's really hurting him.

"You're drinking alone," Nolan says as he takes a seat beside the boy, "that's never a good sign."

"She meant it," Stiles says, "when she broke up with me, she really… she meant it. I thought that we would be good, that we would be done… but not done, ya know? Like you and Jackson. You guys are done, but you're not… but Lydia meant it."

"So I take it you haven't been getting any smoochies from our dearly beloved banshee," Nolan frowns.

"Not even a text," Stiles mumbles before he slams the rest of the whiskey. "I love this place. I love that they don't ID. This is a good place, the best place."

"You're drunk," Nolan giggles.

"As a stinky, stanky skunk," Stiles smiles.

"Well then it seems like I have some catching up to do," Nolan replies as he sits down on the stool beside Stiles, "Joey, some tequila."

The bartender nods wordlessly and pours Nolan four shots and hands him four limes and a small bowl of salt, "Let me know when you need more," Joey states before he walks away to tend to some other customers.

"You're getting drunk?" Stiles asks.

"Only because I don't want people to think you're some sad alcoholic, Stiles. I'm doing this for you. Now, what am I drinking to?"

"To shitty love."

"To shitty love!" Nolan smiles before he slams the shot.

At the other end of the bar Scott and Allison sit side by side, merrily eating peanuts. Allison slowly sips her first, and only, vodka cranberry and laughs as she says to Scott, "Going to parties with you this year is going to be fun, because you can always be sober!"

"Only because I don't want to have to blow $800 in order to even get a buzz going. Besides, if Stiles keeps on like he's keeping on right now, it's in everyone's best interest if I'm forever sober."

"Nolan is with him at least," Allison notes.

"And Nolan, much like your cousin, is a boozehound."

"A boozehound and a demon, how does the boy do it?"

Scott laughs, "Practice. Lots of practice."

"It's weird that we're nearing the end. Summer is almost over. These are our final moments of seeing Nolan get tequila drunk or seeing Camilla sing in front of a jazz club… at least until November. It's all really creeped up on me."

"On all of us."

"At least I'll always have you and Stiles with me. My boys."

Scott leans over and places a kiss on the girl's cheek, "Here's to high school sweethearts."

"To high school sweethearts!" Nolan cheers at the other end of the bar as he downs shot number three.

"Fuck high school sweethearts!" Stiles swears.

"Fuck high school sweethearts!" Nolan cheers as he downs shot number four, "Joey, I'll have some more please."

Backstage, Camilla sips on her own drink, an amaretto sour, as per usual. Her nerves are stronger than ever tonight, though she isn't surprised. It's her last performance. Her last night to make memories at Joe's.

Closing her eyes, Camilla tries to focus on the woman currently on stage, singing a rendition of "I Put A Spell On You". The song fit perfectly for the woman's voice, as Camilla almost feels entranced by the beauty of it.

Sliding off of her stool, she sneaks over to the curtain that separated the backstage from the stage. Through a small gap, she looks out to put a face to the voice she is currently hearing.

Her stomach drops when she finally spots the brown-haired woman on stage. She can't believe it. Lillian St. James. She recognizes her face from one of the many "Missing" posters hanging up throughout Eichen House.

Camilla knows she has almost no time to act on her discovery as Lillian's song is almost over. She scurries over to where she had lay her purse and begins digging for her phone, swearing at herself for choosing to wear a red, formfitting dress with no pockets.

Finally, she grasps at her iPhone 6S and pounds in her passcode.

Quickly, she types out:  _SOS! Lillian is on stage!_  And sends it to the group message labeled "BH8".

Right as the blue bubble is marked as delivered, Camilla hears applause. Within seconds, Lillian is backstage and headed somewhere Camilla doesn't know, but she isn't about to let her get away.

Despite hearing her name announced as the next performer she begins to follow Lillian, hoping her friends weren't too sloshed to check their messages.

Lillian snakes her way through the backstage, and Camilla figures out she's headed for the door that leads to the back alley.

The woman pushes through the heavy door mere seconds before Camilla herself. Once the two are outside and a few feet away from the door, Lillian whips around angrily.

"Is there a reason you're following me?" she demands, her face a mixture of anger and delight.

"Well, when I see an escaped psycho, I can't just let her disappear into the night," Camilla retorts stepping closer to Lillian.

The woman smiles and almost seems to relax a bit, her shoulders drooping so that her blue dress hangs lower on her chest, revealing a lot of cleavage.

"I see, well, we'll just have to take care of that won't we," Lillian answers. She raises a hand slowly, but before Camilla can react, the backstage door slams open.

"Camilla? Where is she?" Isaac yells out, his eyes wild before he spots his girlfriend. He rushes to her side, and soon the whole alley is full.

Camilla smiles proudly and turns back to Lillian, "You're not going anywhere, girlfriend."

"Scott, do something!" Allison urges, her eyes locked on the woman before them.

Much to their surprise, Lillian stays calm and a smile appears on her face.

"Scott McCall? Is that you?" she asks casually, moving a bit closer to the group, her eyes staring dreamily at the boy. "I've heard so much about you."

On guard, and also the closest one to Lillian, Camilla steps in her path, "Don't even think about it, crazy. You're not going to trick us like your sister."

Lillian's face falls as she takes a step back.

"I think you have it all wrong," she tells the group, her voice softer and sadder.

"Well we don't have time to—"

"Camilla, shut up for a second and let her talk," Scott interrupts, surprising everyone, including himself. "Tell us then, Lillian."

The woman bites her lip before revealing her truth.

"Well, my real name is Lauren, and I'm a Druid, like Julia used to be, until she… Well, you know. We used to be the best of friends, Julia and I. Even after it happened. But her anger and need to destroy those who hurt her began to consume her… There was no stopping her. I tried. That's why I was in Eichen. She didn't want me to get in her way. She would come visit me and tell me all these horrible things that she had planned, and all the poor people she killed… It was sickening. She wasn't the sister I knew. And one day, after the lunar eclipse, she just stopped coming, and I only assumed what had happened… I waited for a while, but once I realized she wasn't coming back, I began to plan my escape, and well, here I am."

Everyone is silent, taking in the information from Lillian.

"So, you're not here to hurt anyone?" Lydia asks cautiously.

Lillian shakes her head, "Of course not, I would never."

"How can we trust that, though? Your sister didn't want to until someone did her wrong… And since someone did wrong to your sister…" Camilla speaks.

"My sister and I have always been very different. Even when she was a Druid she was very passionate and hotheaded," Lillian reveals. "I don't want any trouble. I saw the turmoil that was brought about by my sister, and it clearly didn't end well for her. I just wanted to be out of that terrible place so I could live my life. Don't you see?"

Again, silence fills the alley, the only sound comes from a dripping pipe.

Camilla is the first to speak, "Well, she seems sincere. I'm good if you guys are." With that, the brunette turns and begins to head back inside.

Dumbfounded, Jackson sputters, "Is she serious? She wants to leave it at that?"

Lydia shrugs, "I'm sort of fine with leaving it at that." Looking over at Allison, she offers her arm, which the girl takes. The two follow Camilla's lead and head back inside.

Nolan sighs, "I am too drunk to care at this point."

"Ditto," Stiles states.

Jackson scoffs, throwing his hands in the air before following the group back into the bar, leaving Scott and Lillian alone.

Lillian smiles softly at the Alpha, "I sense great power in you."

"Really?" Scott asks.

The woman nods, "Make sure you use it for good." She pauses for a moment before adding, "Thank you."

With that, she begins to walk away, leaving Scott in the alley.

Taking a deep breath, he turns and reaches for the door to join his friends once again.

_\-------_

John Stilinski sets the plate of waffles down onto the dining room table and takes his seat beside Melissa. He grabs the woman's left hand, the hand closest to him, and gives it a gentle squeeze and then looks to his son beside him and his soon to be step-son across from him and smiles.

It feels right.

"We don't have to do this, you know," Stiles says as he stabs a waffle and brings it onto his plate, "Scott and I aren't going to Dartmouth or Yale or somewhere far, far away. We're going to be twenty minutes away from you guys."

"Yes, but you'll be busy," Melissa protests as she dishes herself some freshly cut strawberries, "you'll have lectures and study tables and all sorts of other collegiate things to occupy your time. You'll hardly be itching to come home to see mom and pop."

"Except for the laundry services," Scott jokes.

Melissa rolls her brown eyes and elbows her son playfully.

"You sure you're going to have fun at Lydia's lake house… all things considered?" the former sheriff asks his son cautiously.

"It'll be fine," Stiles says as he pours syrup on his waffle, "besides, this whole group vacay is to say goodbye to friends. To Nolan and Camilla and, hell, even to Jackson."

"It's the end of an era," Melissa comments.

"It is hardly the end of an era," Scott laughs.

"An era is defined as a long and distinct period of history with a particular feature or characteristic," Melissa argues, "and this is… absolutely the end of a distinct period."

"The high school years…" Stiles' dad trails.

"The pack years," Stiles says, looking across the table at his best friend. His brother.

"It's the end of an era," Scott repeats solemnly.

"The end," Melissa agrees.

_\-------_

"How come Susan's not around? Isn't this her bread and butter?" Allison asks her cousin as she plops a spoonful of homemade cookie dough on the metal sheet in front of her.

Camilla rolls her eyes as she scoops yet another finger into the bowl of cookie dough to have a taste.

"She's been crying in the bathroom for the last week," she replies in a monotone voice.

"A whole week?" Allison gasps.

Camilla shrugs, "Yeah pretty much. It's not like she locks herself in there, but she always claims she has 'a spot to clean' when Dad and I start talking about me leaving. If you listen closely, you can hear the sniffles."

Allison playfully shoves her cousin, "Be nice. You should be happy some cares about you so much they weep at the mention of you leaving."

"Yeah, unlike you, who's ready to push me out the door," Camilla sticks her tongue out.

Scoffing, Allison replies, "Oh please. I'm here making cookies with you, aren't I? We haven't done this since we were, like, young."

"We're old ladies now," Camilla jokingly groans, hunching over and placing a hand on her back.

"Old college ladies," Allison corrects as another ball of cookie dough hits the pan.

The two brunettes smile at their silliness and work for the next few moments in silence. Once Allison fills her cookie sheet, she grabs it and slides it into the preheated oven.

"And now we wait," she states as she shuts the door to the oven. Mere seconds later, Ron walks in.

"Something smells good in here," he mumbles as he heads to the fridge, pulling the door open and peering in.

Camilla snorts, "Dad we literally just put them in the oven."

The man shrugs and shut the fridge, "I can smell the anticipation."

"What does that even…" Camilla mutters as Allison speaks to Ron at the same time, "Ron, are you wearing the Steelers shirt Camilla gave you over ten years ago? I remember her giving it to you for your birthday when my dad and I came to visit one summer."

Ron looks down at his shirt, frowns, and looks back up.

"Looks like I am."

Ron's niece shakes her head in amazement, "I can't believe you still have that."

The man shrugs, "I never get rid of anything my baby girl gives me."

Camilla smiles, her back turned to her father and Allison. When she turns around to face them, she says, "I'm more surprised that it still fits."

Ron chuckles, "That's my girl, always making a sweet moment sour. But I guess I love her anyways."

"Back atcha," Camilla winks, throwing a chocolate chip at her dad. The girls expect Ron to leave since the cookies aren't ready yet, but he surprises both when he takes a seat at the table.

Turning to Allison, who has also made her way to the table, Ron reveals, "You know, I'm actually going to miss this drama queen."

"Me too," Allison replies, her bottom lip protruding further than her top, making a pouty face.

"At least I've got you still, kiddo," he adds, grabbing Allison's forearm for a second.

The girl smiles at her uncle. He isn't usually the type to express any emotion other than annoyance, so his comment cheers her up.

"You know, your dad would be so proud of you Allison. Just as much as I am," he tells the dark-haired girl. "Same goes for you, Camilla. I am so proud of the smart, beautiful women you two have become. I just wish Chris was here to see it."

Camilla walks over to her father, puts her hands on his shoulders, and squeezes.

"We do too, Daddy," she affirms, her eyes full of threatening tears.

"We really do," Allison nods, her own tears falling freely.

_\-------_

Scott and Stiles pull up to Lydia's lake house, happily jamming out in Roscoe, right behind Nolan and Jackson. The red-haired girl hurries to greet the freshly-arrived foursome and feels a horrible pang in her chest when all Stiles does when he greets her is smile stiffly and buzz past her and into the house with Nolan and Jackson close at his heels.

"He hates me," Lydia says sadly to Scott, "and I get it. He ought to hate me. I broke him."

"You didn't have to," Scott says, "you guys could've mad it work long distance."

"Scott…"

"Lydia, come on, the kid has been pining for you since third grade. He would have happily seen you off to Yale and then waited patiently, never even considering straying, until you two could be together again… and I think you would have done the same. You love him, don't you?"

Lydia nods her strawberry blonde head, "I do."

"So… you and Stiles could have survived it. He's the one for you, Lydia. And you are absolutely the one for him."

"Scott, I just…"

"And here's the rest of the party," Scott says with a smile, acknowledging the newly arrived Camilla and Isaac. Turning back to Lydia, he says "Hey, listen to me or don't – but you would be surprised what love can endure."

_\-------_

Camilla walks quietly into the room, her hands behind her back and a devious grin on her face. Nolan is the first to notice his best friend, and immediately feels a jolt of worry shoot through his body, right down to his Converse-clad feet.

"Please tell me you don't have a gun behind your back with the plan to turn this into a murder-suicide," he begs as his friend nears him. Faking being appalled, Camilla brings one hand to her chest, keeping the other hidden behind her.

"As if," she voices. "Besides, if I were going to do that, I would come up with something much more creative than a gun."

Nolan leans in close to Stiles and whispers, "The scary thing is that it's true…" Stiles gulps.

Plopping down on the floor, Camilla snaps her fingers to bring the attention to her. Once she assures she has the floor, she reveals her secret: a bottle of red berry Cîroc.

"It isn't a Lydia Martin Lake House Party without spin the bottle, so get your asses on the floor and someone spin this baby!" the brunette demands with delight. The group doesn't take long to obey, and Camilla can't help but feel giddy.

"Did you take a pull of that before you brought it out here?" Jackson questions, noticing Camilla's enthusiasm.

"Yep," she answers. "Plus I shotgunned a beer."

"Alone?" Scott asks.

Nolan holds up his phone before Camilla can reply, showing the group a photo of the brunette with a beer held to her mouth.

"No, I watched her do it. Well, she made me film her, actually. But I wasn't aware of the vodka sneak," he discloses to his friends before setting his phone on the ground next to him.

"Shall we begin, or do you guys want to keep discussing Camilla's drinking habits?" Allison speaks up, her eyes widened.

"I-I just want to know if there's wolfsbane in this," Scott announces before the game can commence.

"Is that even a question?" Camilla cackles. She looks over at Isaac and says, "Spin it, baby."

With a curt nod, the werewolf grabs hold of the drugged bottle and gives it a spin.

When it stops, everyone's eyes are on Camilla once again. The bottle hadn't landed on her, but on Nolan.

Confused, Camilla asks, "What are you all looking at me for? It's just a game. Kiss bitches!"

Hesitantly, the two meet midway and give each other a quick peck.

"See," Camilla sings, "nothing to worry about." The girl smiles sweetly at her boyfriend and best friend.

"But if it ever happens outside of spin the bottle I will forreal impale you," she adds in a dead tone.

Shaking off his best friend's antics, Nolan takes his turn, and is pleased when he gets Allison, a kiss with no repercussions, unless Scott decides to take a play from Camilla's book.

Allison sneaks a little tongue in, and Nolan pulls away laughing from shock.

"I'm going to need a pull of this too," he mumbles, grabbing for the bottle.

"Hey!" Allison whines half-playfully, half-seriously.

"It's not you, it's your gender," Nolan shrugs before taking a swig. Sighing with relief, he adds, "I wonder if wolfsbane fucks me up too?"

Camilla shakes her head, "It doesn't."

Nolan groans, "Did you drug my drink without me knowing?"

"A while ago yeah. You were fine. Until you did those body shots…" she tsks her tongue.

Jackson jerks his head to look at Nolan, "Body shots?"

"Off Camilla!"

Allison hurries and yanks the bottle around, "My turn!"

The bottle spins for a while before landing on the other Argent in the room, whose eyes light up.

"Oh hell yeah!" Camilla wastes no time and grabs her cousin's face, smushing it against hers. After a few seconds she pulls away and gives the group a satisfied look.

"Not too bad."

Allison swallows before saying, "I think she might be a better kisser than Scott."

"Of course I am!" Camilla asserts.

"Yeah I wouldn't doubt that," Stiles nods.

"Time to find out who's next," the girl announces, waggling her eyebrows. Her eyes spin with the bottle until it stops.

When it does Camilla growls.

"No way in fucking hell! NOPE!"

Lydia interjects, "It's the game, Camilla, you have to!"

"I WILL NOT."

"Camilla-"

"NO."

Stiles throws his hands in the air before reaching down to spin the bottle himself, saving Camilla from having to kiss Jackson.

"Let's just move this along before she breaks this bottle on someone's head, yeah?" he suggests as the bottle moves in its circle.

Scott nods, "Good plan. Great plan."

The bottle stops this time, and the room suddenly fills with tension as it lands on Lydia.

The strawberry blonde looks up expectantly at the boy. Unsure, Stiles makes a small movement toward the girl, stops, then starts again. Lydia doesn't falter, ready for it to happen. She wants it to happen.

Stiles leans in, and Lydia closes her eyes, expecting a warm, long-awaited kiss to greet her. Instead, what she feels is cold and impersonal. Stiles pulls away after half a second, and leaves the room within the next five.

_\-------_

"Are you serious?" Camilla shouts at the sky as she peers out into the night. Pelting against the windows are drops of thick, summer rain. "I wanted to SKINNY DIP!"

Isaac comes from behind her and wraps his arms around her waist. He leans down to kiss her neck before telling her, "Babe, we still can."

"No," she disagrees. "Not in the rain. That is not the night I had pictured for us."

"It's okay, Camilla. It's just a little rain," he attempts to console her.

"Cold, icky, bastard rain," she spits out.

Isaac merely chuckles, admiring drunk Camilla's interesting vocabulary. He hears shuffled footsteps entering the living room from behind him, and turns to spot a stumbling Nolan.

"Whatthefuck, rain?" the boy moans, his words slurring together. "Nonono, no rain tonight. I don't think so mother nature."

"It's not like you can stop it," Camilla pouts, leaning into Isaac.

Nolan gives his best friend a look before replying, "Watch me."

Nolan takes a couple drunken steps toward the window and shouts, "Rain, stop!" as he violently points a finger towards the sky.

And the rain stops.

Camilla nearly chokes on her drink, Isaac's body jolts.

"Nolan, did you just stop the rain?" Isaac whispers, his voice a mix of fear, wonder, and something else.

"Sureashell I did. My best friend didn't want the rain, I didn't want the rain, so I stopped the rain. Endofstory I need anotherdrink." With that, Nolan heads out of the room.

Isaac whips Camilla's body around so that she is facing him. Her eyes are just as wide as his.

"Babe did you—"

"Yeah."

"Should we—"

"No."

"But—"

"Isaac, just no. So Nolan stopped the rain. And now we can go skinny dipping. Do you really want to talk about it and tell everyone now? Or do you want to get naked with your girlfriend?"

Isaac opens his mouth, but shuts it just as quickly.

"C'mon lovebug," Camilla says, knowing his answer. She pushes past him to head to the front door, and as she does, she begins peeling off her tanktop.

_\-------_

Lydia stands on the back deck of the lake house, a rose colored blanket around her shoulders. Her long hair is blowing softly in the wind and the fresh lake air is filling her nose. She feels at peace… at home… happy.

"Hey," a voice says from behind her.

Turning around, the girl sees Stiles. Dark hair messily spiked up, a blue and green plaid shirt on, sneakers that are making an awkward squeaking sound on the wet lake deck. She smiles at him weakly.

"Hey."

"We're missing you in there," the boy says, "Allison is talking about wanting to do the routine… do you have any idea what she's talking about?"

Lydia giggles, "Sophomore year before the spring dance… after she convinced me to go with you, I told her that to make it up to me we had to choreograph and dance and… it was horrible. Ridiculous. Allison is a graceful bowman, but she has absolutely no grace on the dancefloor. I can't believe she wants to do the routine."

"Quite the woman, that Allison."

"Quite."

The two are silent for a moment as Stiles makes his way to stand right beside the girl. He places his hands on the guardrail of the deck and looks out at the sparkling lake. Heaving a heavy sigh, the young Stilinski says, "It's weird. You and I…"

"It is. I'm sorry it is too, Stiles, really I am. I just had it in my head that you and I would end the romantic part of our relationship and just become the Mulder and Scully of the group again, but… well, just like Mulder and Scully, there was always something a little bit  _more_  there."

"And here she is, referencing The X-Files and taking my breath away," Stiles laughs.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"And I don't want  _this_ to be how we end. This isn't how we end, is it?" the girl asks with a sad expression.

"I never really thought we would end, to tell ya the truth," Stiles responds, "they say there are two constants in life: death and taxes… and I was pretty sure they'd have to amend that saying to add us as a constant, but now…"

"It's weird. You and I," Lydia frowns.

"I love you."

"I love you too. But I can't… when I go to Yale…"

"I understand. I do. You don't want me to wait for you, but Lydia, I would wait… a lifetime to be with you. I sort of already did – need I remind you of the eight years I spent drooling over you like I was Scooby-Doo and you were a Scooby Snack?"

Lydia laughs, "No, no. I very clearly remember the drooling."

"Can't we at least try? Try the long distance thing and if it all becomes too much to bear we can call it quits? Cut each other loose."

"Try it?"

"And if it's too hard… then we just see if maybe we have a sweet reunion in a year or ten," Stiles smiles. "Come on, Lydia."

"Just try it…"

"Just try it."

It's fast. Careless. When Lydia closes the distance between her and Stiles and kisses him, tossing her blanket onto the floor of the deck. Her hands begin to wander up and down his back and the boy, confused and surprised at first, quickly succumbs to the kiss and places his hands on either side of the girl's pretty face.

When they finally pull apart Lydia smiles up at him and says, "Just trying."

"Just trying," Stiles agrees and kisses her again.

_\-------_

Isaac stumbles into the kitchen where he finds Jackson at the sink filling up several glasses, each one with a different, delicately painted flower on it, with water.

"What this?" Isaac asks, motioning to the glasses.

"Nolan has had a lot to drink. As has Camilla. And I know that even though she's a werewolf now that the hangover won't be even half as bad as it would be if she were still human, but… water never hurt anyone."

"Nolan and Camilla are quite the duo," Isaac laughs as he grabs a chip from a bowl on the counter.

"They really are," Jackson agrees.

"They aren't like… normal friends. I mean, Nolan… he sometimes…"

"Comes to Camilla's in the middle of the night and kicks you out of bed? Yeah. Camilla does the same thing to me."

"It's weird, right? That they're so connected."

"She's his twisted sister."  
"And he's her brother's keeper."

"And the inside jokes they have? What's with that? They sit around and quote Bridesmaids to each other or… have you heard them with the 'Butter, milk, eggs," thing? What the hell is that?" Jackson asks.

"I have no idea, but it's so weird. They're weirdos," Isaac concludes.

"Huge weirdos. If they were any other people I would be making fun of them and planning to dump pig's blood on them at the prom."

Isaac laughs, "I would help."

"I love him," Jackson sighs, "and I love her. I hate her, she gets under my skin like a body snatcher or something, and she has absolutely nothing nice to say about me or my jawline, but… I love her. And I get the feeling that as long as I've got Nolan in my life…"

"You're gonna have Camilla too," Isaac finishes, "I feel that way with Nolan."

"And with Camilla comes you. Maybe you and I should work on becoming better friends. Chances are we're going to have to put up with each other for years to come, in a much more personal way than being betas in the same pack."

"No kidding."

"Wanna help me hydrate the kids?"

"Gladly," Isaac replies, grabbing two glasses and following his fellow werewolf into the living room, "Have you heard the 'swim in the dirt' thing they do? With the Russian accents?"

_\-------_

Allison laughs hysterically as she collapses onto the floor of the master bedroom in Lydia's lake house. The two girls had just finished their attempt at their infamous dance routine from sophomore year.

"I think… I'm even… Worse now… Than sophomore year," she manages to say between heaves and laughs.

"You're also very drunk," Lydia points out, folding her legs underneath her.

The brunette points a finger at her friend and agrees, "Yes. That I am. Very much am."

Lydia lets out a soft laugh.

"Have I ever told you you're my best friend?" she tells her favorite Argent.

"Many times I think," Allison replies, a slight hiccup sound in her voice. "Did I ever say to you that you are mine? My best friend, I mean… Not mine. You are Stiles' mine."

"I know what you meant," Lydia chuckles as she runs a hand along her silk shirt. Her favorite shirt that she had been saving for this night. Everyone's last night.

"I think we all sort of belong to each other, you know?" Allison voices, her eyes closed.

Lydia smiles, a light, sad, happy smile, "I think we do."

_\-------_

"Can you imagine what would have happened if you hadn't come to Beacon Hills?" Isaac asks, a hand running up and down one of Camilla's bare legs.

"Honestly? No."

The boy sighs and rolls from his back to his side to better look at his girlfriend. Her dark eyes had a light in them. A light Isaac never wants to see go out.

"I don't think I would have ever known how amazing it is to love someone so much you want to give all of yourself to them. It's the most frightening thing I've ever felt. It's the most amazing thing I've ever felt," he whispers.

"I can't imagine loving anyone as much as I love you, Isaac Lahey."

Sighing solemnly, Isaac responds, "Tell me this is forever."

"I'm yours forever, baby," the brunette assures him, bringing her nearly-bare body towards his.

"God, I love you," Isaac breathes out just before his lips crash into Camilla's.

His hands roam along her body rather than just her thigh, he touches every inch.

Her hands pull at his hair, begging his lips to go lower, to bite her neck, to nibble on her ears. Then, back up to meet her lips again and start all over.

Camilla has felt no stronger emotion than the love she feels for Isaac, the unending passion and desire to be his, each day, every hour, minute, and second.

Her hands stray from his head to guide his body on top of hers, allowing him in between her legs as she wraps them around his lower half. She can feel his love for her, hard and unwavering. She wants nothing more than for him to feel her love, too.

Reaching for one of his hands, which is busy exploring her body, she leads it to the place she wants it most. He senses her desires and finishes the journey on his own, allowing for Camilla to return her hand to his hair.

When his own hand meets its destination, Camilla sighs with a mix of surprise and relief, which are both soon replaced with a burning want, no, a need.

"Isaac…" she manages to choke out. She needn't say more, as Isaac knows. Seconds pass without his hands on her body, as he strips off his clothes and she does the same.

Finally just skin on skin, the two press their lips together, feeling more free than before.

With small bits of movement, Isaac adjusts himself and Camilla moans as their love for each other collides and the two become one.

_\-------_

Scott takes a long pull from the Jack Daniel's bottle and hands it to Stiles who follows suit in taking a swig. The Stilinski boy makes a sour face as the whiskey spreads through his body. He smiles at his best friend and says, "2004. Field trip to the zoo."

"And you fell into the penguin habitat!" Scott laughs.

"And you were so panicked you started having an asthma attack," Stiles chuckles, before he begins to imitate Scott's panic, "Mrs… Turner… Stiles… Penguin… and about eighty-nine puffs on your inhaler between each word."

"I thought you were going to die, dude!"

"Because they were man-eating penguins?"

"It was scary!"

"As scary as the kanima? Or Gerard?"

"Deucalion when he went on his little demonwolf rant?"

"Or my dad when you and I were playing Superman and I jumped off the roof trying to fly and broke my collarbone?"

Scott's eyes widen as he drinks some more Jack's, "Yeah. Your dad that day was scarier than any supernatural baddie that we've ever encountered, this I am sure of."

"We have been friends for a long time," Stiles comments.

"Very long. And you know what's weird?"

"What?"  
"The fact that through every up and down – girlfriends breaking up with us and werewolves biting me or grandfathers beating you up – we're always right by each others' side. Even when we were fighting this year… I knew that I had you."

"Well you've always got me, dude," Stiles reminds him. "You're my brother, Scott."

"You're my brother too, M–"

"This is such a beautiful moment, why would you ruin it by saying my name?"

"You're my brother too,  _Stiles_ ," the werewolf laughs.

"Thank you," Stiles beams.

"It isn't a bad name…"

"It's horrible…"

"It's kind of cute, man. Precious even."

"Please stop. You're making me want to terminate this friendship."

"I like it."

Stiles rolls his eyes, "If you don't shut up about it two loser high school sophomores are going to go trekking through the woods looking for the two halves of  _your_  body."

_\-------_

Nolan walks out of the bathroom and into him and Jackson's room where he sees the werewolf sitting under the covers, shirtless. The half-demon can only assume that the werewolf's upper half wasn't the only naked part.

"What is this?" the boy asks with a soft smile, thanking god he had just brushed his teeth.

"I was waiting for you," Jackson responds, "you see, I had this theory that you would get drunk and I would take advantage of you – however, since you've sobered up considerably it seems like I'll just have to talk you into what I want to do."

"And what's that? You have some scenes from 50 Shades you've been dying to recreate? Or maybe you've been inspired by Jake Bass and all the other CockyBoys?"

Jackson laughs and reaches up and grabs Nolan's hand, pulling him into the bed. He plants a kiss on the auburn haired boy and pulls away, looking deeply into Nolan's blue eyes, "I love you."

"So I've heard," Nolan smiles.

"I don't want to be four hours away from you," Jackson sighs.

"Good thing you'll be a free agent when we go our separate ways then, huh? That way you don't have to sit around and pine over me like you're the werewolf Rick Blaine."

"We'll always have Beacon Hills…"

Nolan giggles and accepts the soft kiss Jackson gives him, "That we will."

"I'm gonna miss you."

"I'm going to miss you too."

"They say distance makes the heart grow fonder," Jackson smirks.

"I'm not sure I can get any fonder," Nolan says as he feels tears sting his eyes. "God dammit. I didn't want to… I didn't want to do this. I didn't want to cry."

"Nolan…"

"It was that first day," Nolan begins, his heart racing as he speaks, "it was that first day when you came to eat lunch with me in the library. You sat down and you asked me what I was eating and I said 'It's a fluffer nutter," and you asked me what that was and I explained that it was like a PB&J but with marshmallow fluff instead of jelly and you told me that my insides were going to rot… and you smiled at me. It was nothing, it was just a smile, but it made me feel like there was a tsunami in my chest. And I went back to reading  _On the Road_  and I couldn't focus on it because I was thinking about how gorgeous you were and how you were sitting there. Eating lunch with me. Nolan Hayes, eating lunch with  _his_ Jake Ryan. That was the moment I fell in love with you."

Grabbing Nolan's face firmly with his hands, Jackson pulls him in for a kiss. Soft, quick, almost in a habitual kind of way, it was just what the auburn haired boy needed. The kiss made it seem like they'd be doing it for the rest of their lives.

"Here's looking at you, kid," Jackson smiles before he kisses Nolan again.

_\-------_

Scott sits beside Allison at the kitchen island, absently eating a brown sugar cinnamon Pop Tart in the wee hours of the morning. He and the brunette hadn't slept, and he is almost sure the same thing applies to the rest of the group.

His thoughts are confirmed as he hears footsteps padding into the room. He smiles brightly at Lydia when she comes walking in, her hair in a perfectly crafted braid, holding Stiles' hand. Scott raises an eyebrow at his best friend in a curious manner, to which Stiles simply nods back. A bigger smile spreads across the alpha's face, knowing that Lydia and Stiles had gotten it worked out. That they were it.

Next in is Camilla and Isaac. The girl smiles brightly at her cousin who smiles back.

"How are things?" Allison asks brightly.

"Honestly? They couldn't get much better," is Camilla's reply, a laugh in her voice.

Last to join the group are Nolan and Jackson. The boys walk in, looking flushed from what the rest of the group can only assume was from tantric lovemaking. Stiles smiles at Nolan and begins to giggle, forcing Lydia to elbow the dark haired boy in the side.

"Nolan and Jackson sitting in a tree," Isaac sings as he reaches into the cupboard for some Frosted Flakes, "F-U-C…"

"Like you and Camilla didn't just bang the night away?" Jackson retorts.

"Ew, come on, Jackson!" Allison protests.

"We didn't  _bang_ , Spongebob SquareJaw," Camilla corrects, "we made sweet, sweet love. The kind of love that Barry White is played to. But after that, we totally fucked like gorillas."

"Even better," Allison remarks, "ya know, Scott and I don't talk about our sex life."

"That's because when you're as loud as you two are there are no words," Stiles says, adding, "yeah. Keep that in mind the next time our rooms are right next to each other, would you?"

"We were really that loud?" Scott asks.

"Yes," the rest of the pack responds simultaneously.

Allison buries her face in Scott's shoulder, apologizing endlessly.

"I can't believe this is it," Stiles says then, "this is the last time we're all going to be together for… wow, until Thanksgiving. Have we ever been apart that long?"

"It doesn't seem like it," Lydia answers.

"It's not like we won't still talk," Jackson says, "I get the feeling that the Wolf Pack group message will be bombarded every day."

"I don't doubt it," Isaac states, "because chances are we're all going to run into some sort of supernatural trouble at our respective universities. I mean, let's face it, we all seem to be a sort of lightning rod for big evils."

"A beacon of sorts," Stiles jokes.

"And here I was hoping my biggest challenge would be deciding which section to write for the school paper," Nolan comments, before he notices Camilla tossing her head at the doors that led out to the deck.

The dark haired girl takes off to the doors first, her flip flops clapping against the tiled floors of the kitchen loudly, although the group barely pays attention. Nolan quickly follows her, planting a quick kiss on Jackson's cheek before he takes off.

"So, besides the group message should we maybe plan a weekly Skype session?" Nolan hears Stiles ask as he slides the glass door shut and hurries to walk along Camilla's side.

Wordlessly, Camilla and Nolan walk to the end of the deck. Camilla tucks her hair behind her ear and turns to look at her best friend, taking him in.

"Shall we?" Nolan grins, gesturing for Camilla to have a seat.

"We shall," Camilla answers politely, giving a little curtsey before sitting. Birds chirp incessantly all around the two, reminding the world that the day is about to begin.

Nolan and Camilla stare off into the horizon, where the morning sun is beginning to reveal itself.

"Here it comes," Camilla states.

"And off we go," Nolan responds solemnly. The words sink in as their feet skim the top of the lake's surface.

"I can't go," Camilla blurts. Nolan takes his eyes off the rising sun.

"What?"

Camilla turns to face her friend fully, "I can't go. I mean… this is it? This is how we finish? Some lame ass goodbye at Lydia's lake house? That is not the Nilla ending I had envisioned."

"Nilla, nice one," Nolan comments.

"Thank you. But don't you agree? The two of us hugging and saying 'I love you, see you at Thanksgiving,' it just… it isn't us."

"Well, no it isn't, but…"

"Which is why I have something prepared."

"You aren't going to start a flashmob to 'Creep' are you, because that seems a little bit too David Lynch and after everything with my sister I just…"

"You are my person," Camilla begins, cutting Nolan's rambling off, "you are my person. My best friend. You go to Dartmouth and you do extraordinary things, okay? Don't get mixed up with Roots of Evil or Alpha Packs or… Demon hunters with Molotov cocktails. Don't offer your life to any gunmen. Don't do that... I need you alive. You're my person. You make me… brave."

Nolan smiles, tears stinging his eyes, "You're killing me, Argent."

"I never thought I would be saying goodbye to you."

"Neither did I. But that's not what this is – this isn't goodbye. This is a hiatus. We're pressing pause and in no time at all we'll be hitting play again. It's like TiVo for our friendship."

"We will call each other twice a week and FaceTime twice a month and we will text every day."

"We'll be so sick of hearing from each other that when Thanksgiving rolls around there'll be no point in even hanging out," Nolan jokes.

Camilla pulls Nolan into a hug then, something completely out of character for the girl. Nolan is quick to wrap his arms around her. They squeeze each other and pull apart to turn back to the horizon, where the sun gets higher and higher in the sky.

From behind them, they can hear the rest of the pack talking and laughing inside.

"I want to remember it all. Every part of it," Nolan says softly.

"A lot of crazy things to remember there," Camilla says back, just as softly.

"Romance. Heartbreak. Supernatural shenanigans…"

"That's Beacon Hills," Camilla sighs, "that's all the madness of Beacon Hills."

"Is it too late to run like hell?"

**_TEEN WOLF_ **

_**A/N: Hey guys! We are so sorry for the delay of these last few chapters. Life has been kicking both of our asses lately but we are finally done! We sincerely hope you enjoyed all of RLH, but unfortunately, it has reached its end. Thank you all so much for your comments, kudos, bookmarks, and whatever else. We loved writing this for you guys!** _

_**Much love,** _

_**Narly.** _


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